


Legend of the Resistance Elite

by ProfessionalDaydreaming



Category: Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game), Dungeons & Dragons - All Media Types
Genre: Action/Adventure, Adventure, Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition, Dungeons & Dragons Campaign, Fantasy, High Fantasy, Magic, Resistance, Rose - Freeform, legend, legend of the resistance elite, specialattackstudios
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-31
Updated: 2020-09-17
Packaged: 2021-03-06 21:42:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 32,139
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26205874
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ProfessionalDaydreaming/pseuds/ProfessionalDaydreaming
Summary: On a rainy day, within the fallen capital of Silverwind City, five would-be heroes awaken to find their memories of the past year blank and the streets teeming with hungry undead.Anuruk, a half-orc barbarian with a powerful legacy.Nephalanu, a mischievous moon elf exploring the world.Amari Brightsoul, a young man on a spiritual journey.Gryffin, a tiefling searching for a loved one.Ganora, a gnoll with a violent .Together, they form the Resistance, an underground movement on a quest to defeat the Silverwind Imperium's malicious tyrant, King Umir and his legions of the undead. With the help of the friends they'll encounter throughout their travels through Extera, they hope to uncover the secret of a powerful, ancient magic that may hold the secret to stopping Umir before his armies overrun the continent, plunging the kingdom into an eternity of dark submission.





	1. Silverwind

Of the many things Silverwind was known for, rain was not one of them.

Rather, it was known for its gilded streets and buildings, clean and glistening like a shining, silver beacon that could be seen from nearly every other city in the land. It was known for its myriad of people that busied its streets, purchased and traded its goods, mingled and cavorted, fought and loved. It was known for its size, central and unique as a metropolis the likes of which no other city in the region had yet to achieve. Its mages were the most knowledgeable, its warriors the most fierce, its standing armies the most powerful, its archives the most extensive. All of these numerous accolades shown like medals on the perfect breastplate of the city's walls, shining pristine and perfect and warm.

A city such as this, then, was certainly not known for its rain.

Which made this deluge peculiar, the gray skies above drenching buildings in sheets, drops thick and cold like tears. It ran down the angled streets like rivers, weaving through the cracked and ruined cobblestones and dredging up the mud from underneath, caking the ground in pools of sticky muck.

And it was in one of these pools that five prone figures lay, encircling each other as though gently laid there, mud soaking through their clothes. All of them were vastly different in appearance to one another, though they laid in a familiar way, as though old friends, comfortable sleeping in the same space. They had been sleeping comfortably for the most part, until the rain. As it began to fall over them and the mud became cold beneath them, each of them slowly began to stir.

A tall half-orc woman with dark brown hair, damaged tunic, an axe laying at her side, tusked face pressed into a serious frown of a leader.

An even taller looking gnoll, her canine face bleached with white fur, purple spots along the mane, laying across a hefty club.

She was wrapped around a young man, dark hair but for a streak of white, in holy vestments, clutching a book.

Across from them, a tiefling around the same age, skin red and coppery dressed in leathers, one horn holding back long dark hair, the other broken, tail swishing about in the mud.

Finally, a smaller elf with dark hair and moon-gray skin, her head crowned in flowers, white robes staining in with the mud, a small owl picking at the locks of her hair like worms as she tried to rouse her.

As though each of them felt the nagging peck of the owl, they seemed to stir as one, opening bleary eyes that had to blink back the trails of water that ran down their faces. Looking around and finding one another, they breathed a simultaneous sigh of relief. Here were the people they cared about the most, those they had feared for in their troubled sleep, that had plagued their dreams with worry. But here they were - safe and whole and smiling back. Nameless...

What were their names again?

It took each of them a moment to place the name to the face - they had to search a long way back in their memories to place them. Each of them glanced from one face to the next, still partly laying in the mud, rain still cascading down around them like being beneath a waterfall. The half-orc... was Anuruk! And the gnoll was Ganora, who was always near Amari whenever she could be. And Amari was friends with... Gryffin, the half-demon. Or was it half-dragon... that part remained a little hazy. Gryffin was quiet, but he did speak to... Nephalanu, the elf, who was always near Anuruk when she could be.

That was all of them! All of their closest and most dearest friends that they would do anything for.

What had they been doing? What had they been doing yesterday, and the day before that? A month? A year?

That last one they could almost remember, and before that was as clear as a memory could be. There were childhoods where they were supposed to be, and battles fought and won and pains old and new. But beyond that, to the moment they had woken in the mud to a year ago, there was nothing for all of them. Just a vast nothing, black painted over a white canvas, the painting concealed beneath. A year's worth of memories, all gone.

"What are we doing?" Neph asked, though it took her a moment to clear her throat. All of them felt hoarse and very tired. They were awake, but there was a bone deep exhaustion clinging to them. Her eyes glanced around warily, she seemed to be asking herself as much as she was asking them.

"We were...fighting?" Anuruk asked, taking up her axe and hefting it. "Right?"

"Or running?" Gryffin asked, they were all beginning to take in their collective surroundings. As they well knew, Silverwind was not known for its rain. Thus its presence had distracted them from seeing the city for what it was.

Ruined.

Gone were the glittering facades of buildings, the perfectly cobbled streets, the wealthy homesteads, the quaint shops and inns. Rather, buildings tumbled in on themselves, decrepit and destitute. Homes lay abandoned, shells with caved-in roofs, like little crustaceans picked clean of meat. The streets were littered with shards of shattered glass, destroyed plaster, cracked shingles.

But worst of all, it felt empty.

"Where is everyone?" Amari asked, carefully standing. Short as he was, he had to strain his neck to look over even the hunched form of Ganora beside him. Indeed, the streets did appear to be empty. Heavy fog had settled over the city with the rain, steam rising from the streets created an impenetrable mist none of them could peer through.

Ganora heaved herself up from the ground on massive pawed hands, thick claws scraping the cobbles as she rose. She sniffed, testing the air. Slowly, her hackles stood up, body tensing as a deep growl rumbled out of her massive chest.

"I can smell them. Something's wrong." She bared her massive teeth, eyes trying to peer through the mist. All of them searched, watching and waiting through the downpour.

Ganora was right. There were shapes, moving slowly toward them. Slowly, forms began to emerge from the fog, moving toward them with shambling steps. First there were three, then five, then eight, then more, following in a loose pack, dragging their feet toward them. Gryffin thought perhaps the person in the lead was a shopkeeper, with a few bits of jewelry on his fingers and hanging around his neck. He was about to call out to them when the figure lifted its face.

It was barely a face.

The skin was pale and sallow, the flesh sagging around the body in odd places. The head was almost completely devoid of hair, blackened veins spidering over the balding pate. The eyes were clouded and withered, searching with a frantic thoughtlessness of a creature propelled only by a basic, primal need. When their eyes found Gryffin, the mouth opened with screeching hiss and they lurched forward, hands grasping. Neph made a disgusted squeal and fell back into the mud as Gryffin dodged out of the way, bringing up a dagger in front of him.

"What do we do?!"

"RUN!" The voice hadn't come from any of them. Another figure stepped from the mists beside them, hood of his dark cloak thrown over his head to protect from the rain. The voice had been deep and commanding, with a deep courageousness that belied a warrior's confidence. He swung a large silver warhammer, striking the undead creature with a resonant tone like a bell.

The group was up and running before the creature fell.

The pack of undead seemed to sense their retreat and redoubled their shambling, breaking into unsteady runs as they gave chase, the cloaked warrior in front of them, making his way through the streets. They dodged down alleyways and side streets, keeping off the main road. Behind them, they could hear the scrambling and scratching and hissing of undead hunting them. Every singular creature they encountered in front of them along the chase was quickly subdued with a swing of the man's hammer, dashing them to bloody pieces across walls and cobblestones. Anuruk kept to the front, axe at the ready. Ganora held the back, helming in all the smaller group members between them, growling at anything behind them that moved.

Winding paths finally led them all to a rundown inn across one of the major streets. After checking both sides of the street, the man motioned them to follow, then took off at a run. As they all exited the alleyway, they could hear cries from all around them as the shambling masses took notice of their movements. Just as they reached the door, some began to run, hands outstretched, bloodshot eyes wild with violence.

The man threw open the door to let them inside. Once he was across the threshold, he slammed it closed, throwing a heavy wooden beam over the door just as the sounds of scratching and howling began.

"That won't hold them for long. Quick, down into the cellar. There's a way out through there."

"Who are you? What's happening?" Anuruk asked.

"What do you mean, who am I?" the man said, already moving toward the stairs. "Honestly, this isn't time for joking."

"I'm serious!" she said, powerful hands gripping her axe.

"Really, Anuruk, we need to..." his voice trailed off, hands on the railing as he was descending the stairs. He stopped, looking back up from under his hood. The sounds outside were becoming more desperate, but he lingered, watching them. Slowly, he raised an armored hand to pull back the hood and reveal his face.

He was advanced in years, hair as silvery as his hammer, slicked back and face fully bearded. One eye studied them seriously, the other one clouded over, a jagged scar running from above the eyebrow and down across the cheek. His armor was polished and neat, though smeared with the recent rain and mud. His cloak was held by a brooch, a red rose emblazoned on the front.

His bushy gray brows came together over troubled eyes.

"You... you really don't remember?"

"None of it."

"And the same goes for the rest of you?" he asked. The rest of the group all traded the same puzzled, inquiring look. None of them disagreed. The man shook his head, a gauntleted hand wiping a smudge of dirt over his forehead. "What could have... no, there's no time." His expression hardened, his eyes meeting each one of them, one after the other.

"My name is Sol. You're currently in the corrupted capital city of Silverwind, which is under attack. One we cannot win, so we're retreating. If all of you want to live, then follow me and I'll see you safely out of the city. We can talk more about what's happened to you then."

Before any of them had time to answer, there was a crash against the door, splintering the wood and buckling the hinges. Though the door remained standing, it was mortally wounded from whatever had smashed into it. There wasn't any time to object. Anuruk nodded with a scowl, heading down first, followed by Nephalanu. Without any further hesitation, the rest of the party followed suit, Sol bringing up the rear. He slammed the door behind them just as the upstairs door caved in with a heavy thud, yielding to the howls and hisses of the encroaching undead.

Sol barred the way with an even larger bar this time, sealing them inside the dark cellar. He then produced a torch and lit it, looking at all of them pointedly.

"Follow me. We have a bit more time, but we should still hurry." He led them to a corner of the room, pushing aside one of the kegs to reveal a wooden trap door beneath. He undid the bar and lifted it, motioning everyone down before joining them, closing it behind them.

"What is this place? And where are we going?" Amari asked.

"Like most cities, Silverwind has had a few iterations. This leads down to the ruins of the old city, which the Silverwind you saw was built atop over the years. If we're careful and don't stray, the path lets out near White Oak Pastures and down into Rosalia city. We'll be safe there, but we need to be careful. Understand?" When all of them had nodded, he stepped between them and began to lead them down.

At first, they were in a tight stone cavern, the dark walls pushed in around them. The passageway was natural, hewn perhaps by an ancient, underground river that had long since dug its path before drying up. They continued on in silence for several minutes, listening only to the minute and faint sounds of the cave around them - an echo of dripping water, shifting stones, the occasional scrape of someone's boot over the rock as they walked. After a while, the path began to widen, bottoming out into a larger tunnel.

Anuruk and Nephalanu were still taking the lead along with Sol, lighting the way with his torch. Nephalanu stepped ahead a little further until she was next to Sol, her light gown trailing over the rock without snagging.

"Excuse me? Sol, was it? I'm Nephalanu."

"Yes, I know."

"Right! Of course. Listen, I was just wondering if you knew," she asked holding the flower crown to her head as they ducked under a low overhang of the tunnel. "Is there anything else besides us down here? Anything we should watch out for?" Sol seemed to think for a moment, eye watching ahead. When he answered, his voice was just above a whisper.

"Of course, I imagine there are all sorts of things. These paths haven't been used by the residents of Silverwind for some time. Certainly all manner of things might have moved into the ruins."

"Oh... good. Any idea what they could-" She stopped part of the way through her question, Am Gryffin bumping into her from behind when she stopped walking. "Does anyone hear that?"

Everyone stopped, listening. At first, there wasn't anything other than a distant echo. Then, like distant peels of thunder, the earth around them began to move and shift, the walls beginning to vibrate. Bits of stone and dust fell from the ceiling, shaken off the walls as the vibrations became louder, more violent. Sol glanced about, his one eye watching the ceiling.

"The cave... Get out of the way!" He turned around in a blur, taking both Anuruk and Neph beside him. With a tremendous amount of strength for someone his age, he threw them both bodily back the way they came just as the ceiling above them split and fell. Everyone still on the path behind fell back, blasted with dust and dirt as the tunnel caved in, completely cutting off the path in front of them. It lasted only a few moments before the earth seemed to settle, the flowing piles of dirt and tumbling rocks coming to rest. The rest of the party were left coughing and wheezing.

"Sol!" Anuruk shouted. "Are you okay?" For a while, there was nothing but the coughing around them and the sound of settling earth.

Nephalanu stepped closer to the piles of shattered stones. "Sol! Answer us! Are you all right?!" Moments passed in quaking silence, the last of the rubble finding places to rest before there was a coughing reply.

"I'm all right!" His voice was barely audible through the stone, but it was there. Either he was injured or there was an insurmountable wall of debris between them.

"You're not hurt?!"

"No, I'm not hurt! Listen! There's too much stone for us to move to continue together! I will keep going and meet you by the time you exit the tunnel! You'll have to head back to the fork we passed and take the other way through! It should let in roughly the same place, just keep taking the path as far as you can and it will lead you out! Be careful! I'm not sure if anything lives down that way!" There was the sound of metal scraping against stone, perhaps armor as Sol stood, then nothing more.

The rest of them turned to one another, each of their hearts only now starting to come to rest after the cave-in.

"What do we do?" Amari asked.

"We follow the man's advice. That's all we can do," replied Ganora. "You have the torch, Annie. Take the lead and we'll follow." Without further debate, Anuruk made her way back through the group until she was first again and led them back, turning at the first fork and making their way into the unknown territories of the cave system.

A few minutes passed as the tunnel closed in around them, wide enough for only two people to walk side-by-side.

"So I'm not crazy right?" Annie asked, her voice low in the confined space, though loud enough for all of them to hear.

Neph put a finger to her lip.

"Well..."

"You know what I mean. We all know each other, for the most part, right?" Everyone behind her agreed.

"But there's a big chunk we don't remember?"

"Three or four seasons. Feels like a blur," Ganora growled, huge nose sniffing the air for danger.

"I have some vague memories, moments from about a year ago," Amari said. "And everything before that. But... I feel like I know time passed, but it's all blank. We know each other, but I can't remember what we were doing together."

"Fighting someone, by the look of it," Gryffin remarked, pulling his crossbow off his back to examine it. "Or a lot of things. Maybe the things above ground in the city?"

"Who can say?" said Neph. "It could have been anything."

"As long as it's not just me," Anuruk said. "All we know right now is that we have to get out of here. The rest will come later."

They kept walking for another few minutes in silence before the tunnel began to open into a wider chamber. Where there had only been stone walls before, there were now large pillars and broken walls, remnants of a Silverwind lost to time beneath the new city. Sand and stone had buried many of the structures, partially or fully, and there was no natural light.

Although, there did seem to be a faint glow from within the cavern, a flickering firelight not too far off.

Though in some ways they felt as though they were all meeting again for the first time, Amari could recall intuitively that Gryffin was adept at moving quietly. Looking around, he thought perhaps Neph had discovered the same information within her own subconscious. But as they were about to suggest that he should scout ahead for them and ensure that the way was safe, they were interrupted.

"Hello!" Anuruk's shout broke the silence, but created a new one. Moments ticked by without anything as the rest of the party winced, then waited.

Chitterings and other small noises could be heard near the firelight, around one of the larger ruined buildings, partially caved-in roof a rudimentary shelter. Shadows placed across the wall as several figures began to emerge from hiding. Small green hands pulled bowstrings tight, aimed at the rest of the party. They clicked and squealed to one another, small eyes darting to one another as they took up positions around them, their numbers unknown as a tribe of goblins moved to surround them among the forgotten city. The only other light in the space besides the torch and the distant fire were the glittering reflections of arrowheads and little shortswords being drawn and brought to bare against them.

"I can't help but think there was a better way to do this," Neph said. Anuruk gave a nervous smile and a little shrug.

"This doesn't have to be a fight. Maybe we can help each other out here," Am said, stepping forward, hands up.

"We're not surrendering," growled Ganora. "We don't have anything for trade."

"We have a bit of food. Maybe-"

An arrow whizzed through the air, loosed by an anxious goblin near the back of the group. It just barely missed Am, splintering on the stone of the nearby tunnel entrance. Am's eyes were wide.

"So much for diplomacy," Anuruk muttered.

"Right then." With that, Gryffin brought his crossbow to bare. Before any of the goblins had time to release their volley, he took a shot hidden from within the group. The bolt whistled into the cavern, producing a shriek from one of the goblins as it fell, bolt planted firmly in their chest.

The cavern exploded with life.

Together, the goblins released their various arrows and the party split, diving behind whatever boulders or ruined pillars they could find for cover, arrowheads shattering and bouncing off stone.

"What do we do?!" Am asked, loud enough that everyone could hear. "Are we really trying to fight in here?!"

"We have no choice! Just be careful!" Neph called. With a grimace, she dodged out from behind the boulder her an Anuruk were hiding behind, eyes glowing with an ethereal green light, throwing a hand out toward a goblin. The soil pulsed around her, and once dead vegetation sprang to life near her feet, glowing a similar green and sprouting ethereal piercing thorns. The new vine lashed out, wrapping around the goblin with a snap that split the air. It screamed as it was dragged out into the open.

"Ganora!" she shouted, the vine retreating. Ganora gave a high-pitched howl and ran out, leaving Am with his back to the pillar, pulling out her large, two-handed axe. With a swipe, the severed the goblins body in all the important places, leaving it limp and bloodied on the ground. There were more shrieks and gibbering words as the goblins unleashed another volley, and Am could hear a yip of pain that made him wince as he flipped through his book.

It was so strange - he could feel their cohesion as a team. They must have fought together before this moment, there was a muscle memory to his movements that was intuitive. He knew exactly the prayer he wanted for this moment, knew where to find it in the book, and found the page dog-eared from use, a crack down the spine where it had lain open many times before. Yet he couldn't remember a single instance of them fighting together before this moment.

But that thought would have to wait for a safer place. For now, he would have to trust his body to know what to do. A magical breeze seemed to blow through the pages as Am began to intone his prayer.

"I am the shelter. I am the shield. I am the binding of the hands that holds us together..." He felt the warm glow gathering around his heart, rising through his body as he released the Blessing, focusing on Ganora, Anuruk, and Gryffin, feeling their essences connect to him as it bolstered and focused them.

"Thanks Am," Anuruk called, rolling out from her own cover and moving around to the flanks of the goblin firing line. There were a few shrieks and gasps as the half-orc began to slash through their ranks with one greataxe swing after another.

Another volley of arrows thudded around them, wedging into cracks in the stonework or showering them with splinters as they broke over the rocks. When it had passed, Gryffin braced his crossbow against the top of a crumbled stone wall and took aim. He fired, reloaded, then fired again. In the cavern, there were two dull thuds as the arrows embedded deep into their targets, putting another two goblins down.

Though there were many cunning and conniving creatures of the world, goblins were not one of them. Yet despite their limited intelligence and experience, they had enough sense to see that the fight was going badly at a distance. Those that still carried shortbows began snapping and jeering at one another, putting them away to draw smaller blades, short swords and daggers, dashing out of cover and making a break straight for all of them. They targeted Anuruk and Nephalanu, directly in front of them and out of cover, dashing in a mob of little limbs and rusted blades.

Neph tensed and stepped back while Anuruk, taking two running steps to meet the mob. Three descended on her, dodging around her sweeps to stab at her legs, one blade piercing a hip. Blood began to well up, but it only seemed to spur Anuruk on as she repositioned and began cleaving through the three of them with brutal swings of the axe.

From behind the mob, Ganora stepped out from behind the rocks, tossing an axe to bring another down, leaving two more charging for Neph, unaware of the savaging of their comrades behind them. Neph planted her feet, reaching out and summing another vine from a nearby boulder. It lashed out and snatched the goblin by the throat before dragging it back to where it had come from, dragging the goblin with it. It clenched down, thorns digging into the flesh before there was a satisfying pop and it went limp. Neph refocused and summoned another vine, but the last one was already in too close. She threw a hand up to protect herself, pushing the goblin away as it reached her.

She pushed it over without a fight. It fell limp to the ground at her touch, a crossbow bolt lodged in the side of its head, Gryffin pumping a fist off to the right.

Moments passed. Nothing else moved.

"Yes!" Anuruk huffed, kicking over the bodies that lay around her. Ganora gave a little snicker as she joined her, the two of them picking through the bodies for anything useful they could find.

"Well, now I'm certain that we know each other," Neph remarked, wiping a bit of dirt from her silks. "We didn't even have to say anything and we knew what to do."

"I thought the same thing," Am replied, exiting cover and giving the dead goblins as wide a berth as he could. He made his way to Anuruk, reaching a hand out without thinking. Whatever muscle memory was there was shared by both of them as she turned and let him examine the cuts and other small injuries. He took out his book again, humming a bit to himself before placing a hand on her hip. Light suffused the flesh, a radiant warmth that lit the chamber like firelight. Anuruk let out a breath as the cuts slowly knit themselves back together, leaving no trace that anything had ever happened.

"We'll have to rely on our intuition then," Am continued. "Once we get out of here safe, we can better figure out what happened. We should keep moving before more show up, in case they heard." As they moved away from the impromptu battlefield, they fell back into line, naturally lining up the way they had before, with Anuruk and Ganora leading the way further into the caverns beneath Silverwind.


	2. White Oak Pastures

They picked their way through the larger chamber until they found another tunnel on the opposite side of the entrance, making their way into the smaller space and beyond. In the dark there were unspoken questions between them that begged answering. Yet no one dared speak again, lest they repeat Anuruk's greeting from the last chamber and bring the whole underground down on top of them. So they continued on in silence, ears at attention for anything that would signal coming danger.

Finally, the cave widened, and for the first time in hours, they could make out the faint glow of natural light filtering inside the cavern. The tunnel let out into another set of ruins, a derelict collection of fallen stone pillars and shattered walls. But rather than the dancing firelight from before, the far right side of the cavern was open to the outside. They could hear the echoing of rain still falling outside, smell it wafting in from a cool breeze that blew in. The moving air made Neph sigh, and she closed her eyes long enough for Anuruk to step by her. She inhaled deeply and Neph's eyes shot open, and she gave her a slap on the arm.

"What?"

"Not again!" she whispered. "I almost got skewered back there. We look first."

Anuruk frowned, but shrugged, clearly unimpressed with this new line of thinking. "I was fine, but if it makes you feel better."

She had barely finished speaking before there was a low, rumbling growl that echoed through the chasm, followed by a series of thumping footsteps that vibrated the ground around them. A series of chitters and shrieks followed, then a howl of pain, silence, then a cacophony of squealing laughter.

Eyes wide, all of them bent low, slowly moving further into the chamber, keeping to the shadows and moving among the ruins until they could see what was making the noise.

There appeared to be another camp of goblins, perhaps better off than their more underground counterparts. Of course, it was easier to be better than dead, but beyond that, they appeared to have some better weapons and even some rudimentary armor. There were five sitting around a small, sputtering fire, their little camp set up around them in lean-to's and moth-eaten tents.

All of this was dwarfed by the ten foot tall Ogre stalking behind them, thick gray skin covering his body like hide. While the body was massive - a round middle with muscular arms wide as a tree trunk - the head was small and sloped, the eyes beady. The jaw jutted forward in a strong underbite ending in two white tusks. One massive hand gripped an enormous club, a hewn gnarled tree stump, the end run-through with broken sword blade and spearheads. With a rumbling growl he lifted his hide boot, taking some of the sharper edges of the club to pick some sticky red remains from the soles.

All of their heads slowly and simultaneously fell back behind cover, eyes wide as they traded nervous glances.

"Can we sneak out?" Amari whispered. Gryffin poked his head back out to get a lay of the land, but shook his head when he ducked back down.

"They're sitting right in the middle of the cavern opening, and there's no cover on either side. I'd say we could try and distract them or lead them away, but we don't have anything on us. If one of us tries and gets caught in the open while the rest of us are slipping by..."

"That person's fucked," Anuruk said.

"More or less, yea," Gryffin replied.

"So what? We have to fight our way out? That ogre's huge!" Am ran his fingers through his hair, eyes darting around.

"I'm huge," replied Ganora.

"Granted," said Am, "but not that huge."

Anuruk peeked out again, ducking back when the heavy footsteps started to move. "If we focus on the goblins, we're left open. If we focus on the ogre, we're still open."

"Then we focus on both," growled Ganora, gripping her axe.

"Easier said-"

"Leave the goblins to me," said Neph. "Anuruk, you focus on the ogre. Everyone else, take out the goblins while they're stunned. I have an idea. Gryffin, you have to take down anyone that gets away." The dragonborn gave a two-finger salute.

"Then let's get into position," Anuruk said. Ganora gave an excited rumble, making the group's hair stand on end. They split from where they were hiding, sneaking as close as they dared through the cover. Gryffin disappeared silently into the rubble, Anuruk and Ganora banked right, toward the ogre. Am and Neph kept to the center where everyone was in range, advancing toward the unsuspecting camp of goblins.

Unsuspecting until Ganora's axe bumped the stone, grinding along the inside of the pillar they were moving behind with a piercing screech!

Immediately, the goblins were at attention, grabbing around for weapons. She yipped in surprise at the noise, teeth bared in silent apology.

"Go now!" Neph shouted, bolting out of cover to get the goblins attention. Her eyes gleamed with an emerald glow as she moved her arms in a circle and lifted them. Roots and vines that had lain dead for years writhed back to life, lashing out at whatever goblin was in reach. Two of them weren't fast enough, roots wrapping around their legs and arms, holding them in place as they shrieked and struggled. The other three moved swiftly around the vines to escape the ten foot square space dominated by angry plant life.

From the right of the party, Ganora and Anuruk emerged just as the ogre was beginning to take notice.

"Hey ugly!" Anuruk called, "Your tusks are stupid!" As the ogre turned, the ground around them shook with each step. It brought up the club before bellowing a deafening roar, charging Anuruk in lumbering steps. For her part, Anuruk roared right back, nearly as loud, breaking into a run.

At the last steps before their clash, Anuruk slowed by a half step.

"Ganora!" She shouted. From behind her, Ganora overtook Anuruk in a few long strides, tall as she was. She put herself in between them with a cackling howl, bringing the ogre up short with a new target and causing him to stumble. He brought down his club while Ganora raised her ax, and the two clashed as Anuruk kept running past, surprising one of the goblins that had escaped the grasping vines, cleaving down on him.

Amari emerged from his own cover, book glowing in his hands as he recited another prayer. His own eyes began to glow a bright white as he reached out to Ganora. Her fur seemed to glow with the same light, casting her in a dull luminescence that made her look more resilient than before. When they broke from their clash, the ogre brought down his club faster than Ganora could block. But even though it broke through her defenses, it collided with the barrier of light around Ganora and slid off, digging into the ground next to her. Ganora snickered and yipped as she brought the ax down into the muscle of the ogre's arm, producing another roar of pain.

Seeing an opening, one of the freed goblins rushed toward Am, slashing a rusted looking dagger through the air. Am had just enough to catch his little green hands and push him back, barely keeping all his fingers.

Neph gasped, seeing the goblin break through the vines. "Am!"

There was a whistle and a thud as a crossbow bolt thudded into the goblin's shoulder, knocking it back. Another whistle and another bolt embedded into the creature's chest, dropping it like a stone.

"Thanks Gryffin!" Am yelled, though he didn't know where the tiefling was, he waved and hoped Gryf could see it.

If Gryffin had tried to yell something back, it was drowned out by the roaring of the ogre. Bringing up its massive club, it hammered away at Ganora's greataxe until it knocked it again, slamming Ganora aside with a swing. She back pedaled a few feet but didn't lose her footing, tall as she was. Her white fur was smeared red from her own blood, and it dripped from her jaws. Despite the gruesome visage, her lips pulled back into a vicious grin. She opened her maw and cackled, rushing forward and clamping down on the arm that held the club, tearing away bloody pieces of ogre.

Distracted by the noise, Neph missed the last free goblin making its way toward her before it was in range. It swiped at her, forcing her to dodge out of the way. One hand seemed bound by maintaining the spell holding the other two, but she brought up the other one to summon another vine from the ground, whipping her attacker back.

He made another swing, but a flash of glittering white impacted the side of his body and sent him flying ten feet in the other direction. He looked dazed, but not dead - partially burned on one side and sparking with crackling energy.

"Sorry!" Am shouted, more to the goblin than to Neph, wincing as it struggled to find its footing. When Am saw Neph resummon the vine and send it toward the stunned goblin, he turned his head away as she wrapped the tendril around its head, slamming it into the boulder behind it and crushing it.

This was apparently enough of a distraction for the other two goblins to escape their root binds, but they had only managed to free themselves before one dropped from a crossbow bolt in the back while the other met the blade end of Anuruk's greataxe.

That left only the roaring ogre. A meaty hand grabbed Ganora roughly by the scruff and she gave a yip as he tossed her to the ground, raising the club overhead.

Neph ran as close as she could, planting a sandaled foot into the ground. The earth cracked and split beneath her feet, sending a tremor through the ground that shook the ogre's balance and caused it to miss the killing blow on Ganora by a few inches. She moved away enough for Anuruk to step into her place. She charged with a valiant roar, then flew back from the force of his counter, colliding with Ganora and sending them sprawling on the ground.

Two bolts collided with the back of the ogre's head. One embedded just a shallow inch in the creature's thick hide and the other bounced off entirely. The ogre gave a deep growl and turned, beady eyes cast over the ruined cavern. It hefted one of the larger boulders, only needing a single hand and its prodigious strength to lift it before hurling it into the cavern. Somewhere in the distance was a shout and a grunt of pain, then the sound of stones breaking and walls collapsing as the boulder destroyed more of the ruins.

Am turned, eyes darting through the shadowy cave. "Gryffin?!" His distraction was enough for the ogre to clear the distance in two strides, swinging his club in a wide arc. The boy was sent flying directly into Neph, who both rolled as best they could and dodged behind the cover of a nearby pillar before the club came crashing down again, cracking it down the center.

"We need some help here!" Neph shouted. She flicked a hand, summoning another vine as it whipped around one of the ogre's wrists, stopping it for a few moments.

"Ah... my hand..." Anuruk was clutching her wrist, the hand bent at an intense angle. Ganora was rubbing at her neck, her paws coming away with blood from where the ogre had grabbed her. At the sound of their pain, Am took a deep breath and ducked out of cover before Neph could grab him.

"Am don't!" But he was already flipping through his book, reading the first part of the incantation to Ilmater that he remembered, casting his hand out with a divine glow. Glyphs written in Celestial painted themselves in the open air with divine light, flying until they collided with Anuruk and Ganora both. Without pain, Anuruk's wrist popped back into place and she flexed her fingers appreciatively. The blood on Ganora's hand vanished, along with the bruises on her front, and she gave a grateful moo.

The ogre wrenched the bound wrist free, swinging its club again. Am backpedaled enough to miss the sharp ends, but still caught the blunt end of the club that sent him spinning into a nearby boulder, hissing in pain.

"Hands off!" Anuruk rushed to one side and seized one hand while Ganora took the other. From behind Ganora, a slightly bruised Gryffin emerged from where he had been sneaking closer, climbing over Ganora and onto the ogre's arm. He scurried up the side of the creature hand over foot, throwing a rope line around its neck and catching it on the other side before falling behind it, hanging like a pack and forcing the creature still and trying to choke it. Neph sent vine after vine tearing angry bloody lines over the creatures body, one of which tore through the side of the relatively small loincloth, the only semblance of clothes the ogre wore. For Ganora, Anuruk, and Nephalanu, all there was to see for the moment was everything between the ogre's legs.

All of it.

"Oh my gods..."

"I got it!" Anuruk shouted, releasing hold of the ogre's hand and grabbing her axe. With a fluid step and swing she moved into position and brought the axe down in a gruesome, castrating arc that produced a gut-wrenching howl from the ogre. As blood spilled onto the stone, it fell heavily to its knees. With the reduced height, Ganora released the other hand and grabbed her own weapon, taking a running step to drive the axe blade into the ogre's neck. The roaring stopped, and there were a few moments of stillness before Gryffin slid to the ground behind it, letting the ogre fall forward, deceased.

~~

"I honestly don't see why we had to keep it," Am was saying as they made their way down the hill.

Anuruk had the bloody remains of a loincloth thrown across her back, with something suspiciously large and lumpy wrapped within its confines. "How could you not? No one will believe the story without proof."

"I'm inclined to agree," Neph added, nodding sagely.

"We're going to tell people about this?" Am asked incredulously. "Why would anyone want to hear about that in any sort of detail?"

"You don't get out much, do you?" Anuruk in an offhand way. She thought about it over the next few steps, her face becoming concerned. "Do you?"

"I guess not," Am admitted, one hand leaning on Ganora. He was still sore from the fight and she was helping to make sure he didn't sway. "But I guess you wouldn't know that now, huh?"

They were outside now, having picked through the scraps and remains of the goblins for whatever they thought was valuable. It was very little - a few rusted weapons and patchwork armors. Anuruk had set about collecting her "prize" while the rest of them scouted ahead. Seeing that the coast was clear, they exited the Silverwind ruins out onto a hillside that descended down and around. They entered a sloping valley that overlooked verdant forests and burbling streams. Above them, the gray sky had broken in places, allowing glowing sunbeams to touchdown, one of which illuminated what they had to assume was the small valley town of White Oak Pastures. They were descending toward it now, keeping an eye out for any wayward undead or monsters keeping a watch over the path. The path was wet from the recent rain, they were confident they couldn't be tracked. Thus, they moved at a relaxed pace, enjoying being above ground and outside for the first time in hours, ruminating about all that had changed so quickly.

"So what's the last thing we remember?" Neph asked, finger to her chin as she kept pace with Anuruk.

"I was with Amari," Ganora said immediately. "We were just about to leave... what was it called?"

"Oceanbreeze?" he replied. "We'd been staying there a while, waiting for you to recover. I think we had just left, actually... it would have only been yesterday, but suddenly it's hazy now." Am and Ganora glanced at one another and shared a frown. "What about the rest of you?" Am asked.

"We were traveling together," Neph said, one hand reaching out and touching Anuruk's arm. "She was showing me around after I left home. We've been together for a while, doing odd jobs, never staying in one place long. Then... well then it was now, I suppose. What about you Gryffin?" she asked, looking at Gryffin. The tiefling was bringing up the rear, tightening some of the fastening on his crossbow.

"Oh! Well," he said, thinking back, "I was traveling too."

"Anywhere in particular?"

"No. I knew where I was going... kinda. I was looking for someone," he said.

"Who's that?" asked Anuruk.

"Someone important. I have to tell them something." His tone implied that it was all he would say on the matter, but Anuruk pressed anyway.

"Well what do they look like? If we see them we can say so. You must have told us before but I guess we forgot-"

"It's fine," he said curtly. His eyes weren't angry. Maybe a little frightened? He shook his head, moving his hair behind the one, unbroken horn. "Really, it's okay. I can take care of it."

"Well," said Am after a long pause, "all right then. Let us know if you change your mind." Gryffin didn't offer any more than that, and they continued the rest of the way into the valley without any further speculation.

White Oak Pastures opened up around them in rainy early Summer splendor as they approached the town. Nested in a quaint valley amid a copse of titular pale trees, the town was equally quaint with thatched homesteads near the edges looking over sprawling farmland. The trees that surrounded the town were of a notably pale bark, a timber that appeared to be utilized for most of its infrastructure, yielding a clean-looking town interspersed with the greens and blues of budding foliage and clear water. The people hustled and wandered about with a mixture of attitudes ranging from the anxiously lazy to the hurried lazy. There was a fretful energy that threatened to overwhelm the civilians sense of overarching calm. Though it had not yet done so, there was a tension that permeated the air.

Moving toward the town center revealed more sophisticated buildings for a smaller town; brown shingled rooftops with more stories, cobbled roads instead of dirt, culminating in the town square with and a smaller tavern, set apart from its neighbors. The Snoring Bear was middling in all the ways it could be: neither exceptionally clean or dirty, large or small, central or set apart. It nestled in among its neighbors with an innocuous air of its namesake, a large facade sleeping in a sleepy town, with nothing of note that would attract people inside nor repel them.

All except the carving of a rose above the door handle, the one and only marking that drew the group there as they searched for a place to stay and await their meeting with Sol wherever that would be. Amari noticed it as they passed, eyes constantly watching the crowds and the buildings as they passed through the few dry areas to keep out of the rain.

"How in the world did you see that?" Gryffin asked as they approached the door. "It's so small."

"I guess I have an eye for details," he said, pushing open the door and letting them inside.

The interior was as unassuming as the exterior, with little in the way of adornment or decoration to liven up the space within. There were a few potted ferns growing near the windows, looking misted from the places where the rain penetrated the gaps in the windows. The tables and chairs were sturdy but cheap, the floorboards appropriately creaking and warped with years of spilled drinks and roof leaks. The back of the bar was a myriad of half full bottles of varying colors and sizes, with a single posture that hung along the back; a silhouette of a king and bold black letters stating Long May He Reign.

The only other person in the bar was the bartender, a middle aged man with ruddy brown hair tied back to prevent a mess of curls from entangling his face. He had a genial face, friendly and attentive. Though he busied himself wiping off the bar top with a damp rag, it seemed as though he had been watching the door, waiting for someone to enter.

"Welcome to the Snoring Bear. Can I get you anything?" he asked. His voice was whiskey-warm and welcoming, though his eyes still glanced to the door and the single window that opened out onto the street. Otherwise he watched them with an appraising eye, passing over each on in turn. Even Ganora, whom he regarded with merely a calm interest before returning to scrubbing the bar.

"Strong, alcoholic things," Anuruk said, sitting down at the bar. The man assented, reaching back and grabbing a dark looking, unlabeled bottle and pouring out a splash. The others began to sit either at the bar or the other tables as well, taking up space with nobody else in there.

Nephalanu and Amari sat down near one another, both of them watching the man carefully. They shared a concerned look, then turned back and watched him again. There was something about the bartender... Something that struck a chord with them, some distant pang of memory shared between them.

"Do we...?" Am started to ask her.

She nodded. "I see it too, but I'm not sure..." He spoke with Anuruk and Ganora easily enough, something that was strange to Am. Ganora was an exception - gnolls weren't generally allowed in public spaces so Am had to vouch for her in the towns they visited while traveling. That he hadn't needed to do that here was strange. Anuruk was intimidating, of course, but she was a half-orc; uncommon, in some places but a regular enough sight. Gnolls were still considered monsters by most people.

So why hadn't the man said anything.

"What's your name, friend?" Amari asked him. The man's face betrayed nothing as he turned an easy smile on them.

"Artyom. Been here a while. Not as many people as the other, larger taverns, but we get by. Always good to have regulars." He walked momentarily into a backroom, but emerged only a moment later with a few plates of dried meets and hard cheeses while he continued to serve drinks, talking easily with the two barbarians and Gryffin. If the three of them noticed that something was off, they weren't showing it.

Another minute passed and neither of them could take their eyes off him. Finally, Neph straightened, reaching out and taking Am's hand without thinking. Her eyes were wide, her chest swelling with a growing realization. He followed her gaze, spotting it after a moment of searching. He wore a dark vest over a pale shirt. Pinned to the underside of the vest was a little broach that caught the dim light and just the right angle.

A glittering rose.

"Red Rose..." she whispered.

"What was that?" Artyom asked, leaning over the bar.

"Red Rose."

"Finally!" he exclaimed. He reached behind the bar, taking hold of something and pulling. There was the sound of a mechanism activating, and wood sliding along wood. The floor shook as part of it pulled away in a small slab behind the bar, opening to a narrow set of stairs hidden beneath a hidden door.

"Took you long enough," he said, laughing to himself. "I was wondering if you forgot."

"I mean-" Anuruk started, but was cut off by the slam of Artyom opening the partition.

"Come on then! We got a lot to talk about," he said, waving them along. Glancing at each other in turn, each of them placed down whatever they were eating and made their way behind the bar, then down the narrow steps to the chamber below, Anuruk and Gryffin taking their mugs along with them like a shield.

The room below was dimly lit with dancing lights that hung in the corners of the room, like will-o-wisps gently floating in place. All around the room, maps and charts were hung along the walls, lines drawn over then wiped away hundreds of times. The largest map was reserved for the center of the room, laid out over an expansive round table with places for all of them and several more. Above them, the ceiling had been plastered, filling in the spaces between the floorboards. With all of the parchments and vellum hanging on the walls muffling the sound and the covered ceiling, no one from the outside would ever know such a room existed.

What's more, the room wasn't empty as they entered through the little door, also embossed with a rose. Three other individuals stood or sat in the room. Two looking over the map, one finishing up a meal on a chair a few paces away, listening. Each of them looked up as the party entered, Artyom bringing up the rear.

He said, "Look what I found. Out wandering the streets as though they weren't just in the capital."

The one set apart raised a mug filled with froth in a private cheers. He was small - dwarf small - stocky and fully bearded with pepper gray hair. He wore light brown leathers, a bow and quiver leaning against the wall behind him.

"Aye, took ye long enough, I'd say. Had us worrit sick, ye did."

"You couldn't have reported back sooner? What kept you?" another asked in harsh tones. She was a dragonborn, body covered in iridescent black scales that shone like an oil slick against the faint light. She wore a military uniform, red and gold against the black, a tabard with a rose hanging down the front. At her feet was a heavy set of plated armor, polished and pristine. Her yellow eyes were piercing, slitted like a reptile's, long snout full of sharpened teeth that poked out from the upper lip as she frowned.

"I'm sure they have their reasons. It's what they're here to explain," the other whispered. Long blond hair flowed out from beneath a dark blue silk hood which continued down into long blue robes. She had pale skin and delicate features beneath, bright eyes shielded behind thick glasses and a mousy expression. Her ears were pointed, pushing up against the back of her hood - an elf.

"Are you all right?" she asked, closing the book she was holding. "Did anything happen?"

"Honestly looks like nothing happened," said Artyom as he made his way to the table. "But now we can hear the whole thing. Go on then. What happened up there?"

Moments of silence ticked by, the only sound coming from the creaking boards and the distant sound of rain on wood. The party glanced at each other in growing confusion, none of them willing to break the tension.

"Any time now," said the dragonborn.

"Don't bother," came a voice behind them. All of them jumped as they heard the sound of the hatch closing above them. Entering the room, was a drenched Sol, dripping rain water along the boards as he pulled off his sopping wet cloak and began to shrug out of his heavy silver armor.

"Sol! Thank Gods!" exclaimed Artyom. "We were just about to hear it from them."

"I said don't bother," he repeated, laying down his heavy looking shoulder plates and beginning to unclasp his breastplate. "They don't know anything."

"What do you mean?" asked the dragonborn. "How could they not? They were right there. They would have seen everything."

"Maybe they did, but that's how it is." Once the armor above the waist was removed, he stopped, leaning over and placing both hands on the wood of the table. "I need you all to listen. We have a lot of explaining to do. And what's that smell?"


	3. Road to Rosalia

"An ogre? I wasna' even aware they had-"

"But they do!" Anuruk told the dwarf, leaning back in her chair around the large table, map still laid out in the center. "Have to say, I'm not too familiar with them. It's big, sure, but not as big as I would have thought for something that size."

"Well," he replied. "Les have a look at it, shall we? I mean, when's the next time yer ever going to see a-"

"If we can all just ignore the ogre's parts for a few moments," interjected Sol, "I think we have more pressing matters. Silverwind City has fallen and most of our main fighters don't even know who we are."

The dwarf frowned and leaned back a bit in his chair, revealing a polished wooden pipe from his vest that he began to pack tobacco into. "Sounds a wee bit pressing to me," he muttered to himself.

"That is true," said Neph, leaning a little forward in her seat. The rest of the group had taken up seats around the massive table, still beneath the Snoring Bear, happy to finally be able to sit. They were still dirty from their travels and worn, sporting a few new bruises in tender places. "You all seem to know us, at least partially, but Sol's right. Sorry to say, we don't remember any of you. Right?" she asked, looking around to the rest of them. Ganora, Amari, Gryffin, and Anuruk all shook their heads in tandem.

"Strange times," muttered the dwarf, shaking his head while he blew a smoke ring toward the ceiling. "Well, I'm Offgar, ranger and outrider."

"Nerza," said the Dragonborn, curtly. "Captain of our Vanguard and tactician." A few moments of silence passed as they all turned to the elven woman. She continued to write into the book until Nerza loudly cleared her throat. Her head popped up with a start and she snapped the book closed.

"OH! Apologies. Introductions? Yes, well... Hello, you would know my name is Ventra. Or you wouldn't, because you've forgotten, but you did at one point, is what I meant-"

"We get it!"

"Right! Sorry... I'm the Resistance's resident mage, in charge of magical surveillance and clandestine teleportations."

"And you said your name was... Sol?" asked Amari.

"That's right. Paladin of Pelor and divine magics expert. And you've already met Artyom."

"Let me guess," smirked Anuruk. "He's your professional mixer and tavern keeper."

"Correct," said Artyom, smiling from where he had turned his chair backwards. "If by mixer and tavern keeper you mean espionage expert and Spymaster." The rest of them blinked, Anuruk looking only mildly impressed.

"Oh uh... sorry about that."

"Fooled you, didn't I?"

"All right, enough introductions," said Nerza, leaning over the map on the table. Atop it were laid various figures symbolizing different kinds of troops. With some reluctance, she moved several shiny black pieces to the center of the map over the city. "If the capital has fallen then things are about to get worse. And quickly. The hordes within the city will only be contained for so long while they finish off whatever food sources and surviving pockets remain." The rest of the room fell quiet.

"I don't suppose you mean the butcher and bakery?" Gryffin muttered.

Nerza shook her head solemnly. "Butchery, sure. Once that diversion has been exhausted they'll begin to move outward in search of more individuals to increase their numbers."

"I've been thinking," said Ventra, not looking up from her book, "we may be able to extend the barricade that surrounds the castle outward, with the help of some other Abjurers." She closed the book and stood. Shorter than Nerza, she had to reach across the table to extend a small wooden barricade that had been laid around the center of Silverwind City until it encompassed it entirely. "It would be a massive undertaking, but it may very well be possible to move the barrier further out until it surrounds the city completely."

"That's only a temporary solution," retorted Nerza. "Even with the arcane force necessary for such a task, it would only be possible for so long. All the while the body count inside the city, and the forces trying to therefore escape, will continue to grow. And the King won't sit idly by either. By the time we need to enter the city again, there will be even more dangerous things within that he's no doubt conjured."

"Maybe that's true," said Sol, "but it's the best we've got."

"Question," said Neph, raising a tentative finger. "Barrier? King?"

"Yea, all of those things sound pretty bad," remarked Anuruk. Offgar scoffed and blew another smoke ring.

"Gods, it really is bad."

"Well," Sol began, "I suppose to begin, we here are members of an underground resistance trying to unseat the current King."

"Oh wow!" Anuruk said, sitting a little forward. "That sounds cool!"

"That sounds hard," Ganora growled. Since there was no chair in the room large enough for her, she was sitting on the floor by Amari's side, his fingers running thoughtlessly through her coarse fur. Even then, she was still taller than all of them sitting at the table by a head. "What did he do?"

Sol said, "Even before everything that's happening now, King Umir Silverwind was a despot. Armed conflicts were frequent, taxes on the poor were cruelly high, and any disloyalty, whether true or perceived, was punishable by torture and death. All of these things would be more than enough cause to overthrow a regime, but so great is the peoples' fear of him, there was little chance of sustaining a coup long enough to achieve victory.

"Yet there was some small hope. The King was getting on in years, and his health was failing. With no heirs and none chosen, once Umir passed the kingdom would be free of his tyranny." A shadow fell over Sol's face. "If we had only known what he had been planning."

"The hordes?" Amari asked, also leaning forward. "Those were because of him."

"Without our notice, King Umir held a secret, dark ritual and made some sort of bargain with Orcus." At the mention of the name, Am's face became pale, eyes wide. He sank back in his chair, where he remained very still.

"Is it that bad?" asked Gryffin asked.

Am's eyes were focused on the floor beneath the table. "Orcus was a very powerful demon lord... now a God of Undeath. He's the patron of necromancers, dark cults, and other evil things that raise the dead to do their bidding. Anyone who was willing to make any sort of deal with him... their lust for power would be insatiable."

"Exactly," Sol said, face grim. "That was about a year ago now, I think."

"At the time," continued Nerza, "we began to move forward with our plan. We had all served the King in one way or another, moving closer to him so that we could better overthrow him. We also brought on others that were sympathetic to our cause and would help us rally the people. Namely... you."

"Us?" they all asked in tandem. Their heads swiveled to each other in turn, each more confused than the last.

"We were part of the resistance?"

"Still are, if there's any hope left," said Sol. "You were essential in our last gambit, to use ancient magic to defeat the King. I never quite understood what it was. It was old magic, but something powerful enough to take down the King. But judging by the state all of you are in... it failed."

"We were... fighting the King?" Gryffin asked, shaking his head.

"It should have been over today!" Nerza shouted, slamming a fist on the table, knocking away several of the pieces. "All this work and sacrifice was supposed to be done with today! And now... it's over?" Ventra tried to put a hand on her shoulder, but she shrugged it off.

"It's all right," said Sol. "Everyone is still here. So long as we're around, the fight's not over. There must be more we can do."

"Like what?" she asked with a snarl. Ganora's fur stood on end, and Amari patted her softly.

"Well..." said Sol. "I'm not sure yet. But I know someone who might have a better idea. But first," he said, turning to the group, "we need to talk about all of you and your continued involvement." He looked to each of them in turn, searching their faces. Whatever he was looking for he didn't appear to find and gave a long sigh.

"I understand that this is a lot to take in and that it's hard to believe that you've been helping us, that you were just a few days ago helping us to plan the infiltration of Silverwind Castle to end this. Believe what you will, what you have to, but there it is. This is a set back for us, and a major one. If this were like before I suppose I wouldn't have to ask, but you are welcome to continue to help us. That being said, considering what you've been through, what you're currently going through...we can't make you continue."

"What?" Nerza hissed, claws scratching deep gouges into the wood of the table. "After everything we've done, how can you-"

"We just can't, Nerza. It's not right."

"I'm not so concerned with what's right if it means stopping this."

"We have to be. Otherwise, we become more like him." They stared at each other for a long moment, the silence spreading out between them.

Finally, Nerza snorted, grabbing her armor and shouldering passed Sol, taking the stairs two at a time and exiting the basement. Offgar moved to follow, but Sol sighed and put a hand up.

"Give her some time." He turned back to the group. "What I was trying to say was we can't force you to continue if you don't want to. Things have changed, and there are more things you clearly don't remember that will have to be explained going forward. You all have already given so much, it's not right of us to make you keep going now that there are things you don't know. We could use the help, but if you have doubts or second thoughts, now is your time to leave if you'd rather not be a part of this. We will just have to figure out the rest as we go. Fair warning, you're in a unique position having lost those memories. If you wish to continue past this point... you may not be able to change your minds later. You may know too much.

"So," he said, crossing his arms, "are you with us? Or do we part ways here?"

The five of them looked to each other in turn, to gauge the other faces around them. Moments of silence passed, and though the other three members of the resistance grew more restless, Sol remained patient and still.

Each of them had questions - some personal, some shared. They were practically strangers, only just having learned each other's names. Yet, here they were, in the basement of a secret organization having only barely survived escaping from an undead city and the ruins beneath it. Through those fights, there were clearly echoes of something more between them, the ghosts of memory between them, like threads only visible in the right light. What had they been before? Had they really been as close as Sol claimed to something this big? Even knowing as little as they did now, could they do it again? Would they find the answers to those questions - personal and shared?

Would they live long enough?

"Well..." Anuruk said quietly. "I don't know about all of you, but I don't have anywhere else to be right now. Bringing down a King is as good as anything I was going to do."

"There may not be a place to be if this continues," Nephalanu said. "I admit I'm a little hesitant, but if it's as really as bad as you say, and Anuruk wants to, I think we might be able to help each other. I planned on traveling anyway."

"If we're traveling," Gryffin added, "I guess I'm looking for someone. So long as it's along the way, I guess I'd feel bad not helping where I could. But I'd feel better, safer, if we were all going," he said, looking to Ganora and Amari. The gnoll turned her massive head toward Am.

"I go where you go," was all she said. Am's brow was furrowed, looking to each of them in turn. Though they all seemed at least partially comfortable helping, that Orcus was involved was impossible to ignore. Yet they had shared battles together already, as well as more in the future. What would happen if he wasn't there?

Am squared his shoulders and lifted his chin. "We're with you."

~~

"Whatever happened in there is beyond my magical understanding," Sol had said, "but that doesn't mean we can't find out. Since arcane isn't really my specialty and it's too advanced for Ventra, my advice to you would be to leave at first light tomorrow, follow the road down out of White Oak Pastures to Rosalia City. You'll want to seek an audience with Master Attrix, Dean of the Magic School. He's sympathetic to the cause. He might be able to provide some more insight as to what we should do from here..."

"And he said we needed to look for an Obelisk, right?" Anuruk asked.

Ganora nodded. "That's what I heard."

"What does that even mean?" she asked.

"We'll figure that out when we get there," said Ganora. "But I already forgot what we're supposed to say."

"Red Rose, I think?" Neph replied. "I think that's what Sol said. There was a lot happening."

"It worked the last time," said Gryffin. "Seems like what gets you into most places associated with them."

They were finishing their descent down from the hills surrounding White Oak Pastures, now walking through sprawling fields of golden wheat around them. Their path took them straight through, the midmorning sun above them now. Sleep had helped revitalize all of them at the Snoring Bear once they were finished speaking with the rest of the Resistance. Artyom had spotted all of them rooms almost as soon as they were finished agreeing to continue helping them. All of them happily retired for the evening.

Now, it felt that a world of possibility lay before them. The sky was cheerfully blue, the sun warm but not hot. A cool breeze rocked the wheat in gentle, golden waves while birds bobbed and weaved overhead looking for prey in the tall grasses.

"Hard to believe it could look like this, after what happened in Silverwind," Amari muttered. He was currently riding on Ganora's shoulders while she walked, fingers holding on to her mane as they walked.

"I can see how that's a bit of a disconnect, yes," Neph replied.

"What do you all think?" Am asked. "Can we trust them?"

"A little late to ask that question now, isn't it?" asked Anuruk.

"I said that I would help, and I'm a man of my word. But I didn't say for how long I would help them. We could very well find out what they need to know from this Master and report back and change our minds," he said.

"Clever," Ganora growled.

"Still," he said, "I would like to help if they really are true to their word. We must have thought it was important enough to ally ourselves with them before. And it's certainly hard to talk about trusting this Resistance with them all there in the room. Now we can speak freely."

"I meant what I said," Anuruk remarked, shouldering her greataxe. "Didn't really have a reason to lie to them. If anything changes, then Neph and I can go our own way whenever we want. If they're not going to respect their word, then why should we?" Neph nodded along as she spoke. The two of them walked side by side, steps falling in tandem with the other.

"Long as we keep moving, I don't mind helping where I can, just like I said," Gryffin remarked, keeping to the rear.

"Then that's that, I suppose..." Amari said. Helping them out was one thing, although trusting them might have been another. Or perhaps they were the same, since helping them meant having to trust them as implicitly as they must have before they lost their memories. Am wasn't sure.

More so than that, Am suddenly felt as though things were too still. The breeze had died down, but there were no longer the sounds of birds and other things around them. He felt a familiar feeling creep up the back of his neck.

"Does anyone else hear something?" he asked.

Before anyone could answer, two men in dark clothes stepped out in front of them from the wheat, another two behind them.

"That's far enough, folks," said one of the men in front, unsheathing a shortsword, holding it lazily out in front of him. He was young, a bit rough looking about the face with a crooked nose from an ancient break. His hair was cropped short and dark, his eyes just as dark with bags underneath. "No long speeches, no begging, no blood. Hand over what you got and you can head on down to Rosalia nice and safe. You're outnumbered, we have you surrounded. You can all lay down your weapons and we all leave with what we want. Deal?"

"How is us giving you everything what we want?" Anuruk asked, grip tightening on her axe.

The other man next to the speaker, younger with a rounder face, pulled out a hand axe as the two behind them drew their own swords.

"You get to leave with your lives," the speaker said. "Who wouldn't want that?"

Am had carefully climbed down from Ganora, hands held up in front of him. "Now everyone, there really isn't a need for hostilities. Surely we can come to some sort of arrangement that doesn't involve us handing over what we have. I'm from the church. I promise it's not much."

"Which church?" asked one of the other highwaymen behind them.

"Ilmater."

"Oi. Reginald and his mum worship Pelor. More culturally, they do the feast days but don't go every mass. Just thought I'd ask in case. Shame," he explained while loading his crossbow, priming it and aiming at them.

"I still feel like we can establish some common ground through religiosity. The things I have help those in need. You'd be hurting more people than just us by taking them. We're also on an important mission."

"Don't tell them that!" exclaimed Gryffin.

"What kind of mission?" asked the crossbowman.

"Don't ask!" shouted the leader. "Enough. Your purses or your lives. Ten seconds. One... two..."

"Ten!" Ganora snarled. She hefted her greataxe and charged.

Crossbow bolts fired from in front and behind, as well as from the wheat on the sides. Only two bolts hit Ganora, one in the shoulder and another in the back. Her yips of pain became a howl of rage - two bolts alone weren't damaging enough to stop a Gnoll in motion. She barreled into the one that had fired on her, knocking him back as he tried to block with the crossbow and barely getting out of the way of her bladed swing. To the two highwaymen in front of the group, it occurred to them both at the same time that perhaps they had made an error gambling on a group with a Gnoll having things worth stealing.

This became slightly more obvious when, after celebrating by successfully dodging Ganora's swing, the crossbowman gasped in pain as a bolt embedded itself in his own side. Gryffin lowered his crossbow and dodged into the wheat just as one of the men behind them advanced to swing with their shortsword.

Before the leader could advance on Ganora from behind, Anuruk cut him off with her own axe, hacking away at him while he ducked and weaved, looking for a weakness with his rapier.

"Just remember, when your friends die and we get all your things, you could have avoided this," he said.

"Remember after you died that you should have spent more time fighting and less time talking!" Anuruk swept beneath him with her foot, knocking him to the ground. She raised the axe over her head and brought it down hard, slicing into the dirt as the leader rolled away in the nick of time, losing a bit of their sleeve in the process.

Behind them, the other two advanced with swords drawn on Amari and Neph, who stepped back carefully.

"This doesn't matter," said Am, arms still raised, "we don't have to do this."

"We'll leave a candle for you and your friends at the Church of Ilmater next time we're in town," said the bandit, twirling the sword in his hand. He closed the distance to them in a few steps, the other bandit keeping in step, swinging and stabbing. Am and Neph ducked and dodged around each other, trying to keep away until they were almost back to back with Ganora and Anuruk.

When Am felt Ganora right behind him, he reached up without looking and pulled one of the arrows free from her side. She snarled, but he placed a hand over the wound, a bright light emanating from his hand. The wound began to stitch back together in the warm glow. The leader's eyes grew wide as he pushed himself to his feet.

"Stop him!"

One of the other bandits lunged, tearing through Am's vestments and causing him to hiss. Nephalanu summoned an old root from the ground, like the vines before in the cave, and lashed out, but the bandit ducked below and swung again.

"Cover your ears!" she called. Am did so and Ganora flattened hers against her head.

"What?" Anuruk called, looking back, but it was too late. Neph spread her arms wide, eyes glowing like pale moonlight before clapping her hands together. The space around them erupted in a peel of thunder that shook the ground beneath them, reverberating out in a shockwave. Unprepared, the shouts of the four men and Anuruk were entirely drowned out as they were tossed fifteen feet away, tumbling over each other in heaps. The blast echoed off into the distance and died away, flattening fifteen feet of wheat around them.

"What the hell, babe?!" Anuruk called, trying to stand on unsteady legs.

"Sorry..." Neph said with a nervous smile. "I did warn you."

"Did you warn me too?" Gryffin asked, stumbling to his own feet and rubbing at his ears. Among the leveled wheat there were two more men dressed in dark, dusted leathers dizzily getting to their feet. The one by Gryffin rose to a knee and lunged, dagger out. He and Gryffin both tumbled to the ground, wrestling over the blade.

The pages of Am's books flipped as Am held out a hand. His eyes closed in concentration as his palm began to glow. His eyes opened with the same light, and for a brief moment, there was a similar flash in the eyes of Ganora, Anuruk, and Gryffin. Empowered they fought with new vigor, Gryffin managed to wrench the dagger from the man's hands and land a blow across his face.

The other two behind Neph and Am regained their feet and slowly began to advance again, much more cautious this time. They were pulling out their crossbows as Am and Neph looked nervously at the two barbarians.

"Um... guys?" Neph asked. Anuruk and Ganora gave each other a nod as their two combatants charged them both in tandem. Both of them reached out with strong hands, grabbing the wrists of their sword hands and wheeling them around. The two men slammed into each other back to back, stunning them before Ganora and Anuruk both raised their great axes and cleaved down. Both men were hewn from shoulder to hip, slumping on the ground over each other, blood spilling into the dirt, drops landing on Am and Neph. Before the other two men could reach the spellcasters, Anuruk and Ganora rushed past them to intercept, Ganroa dropping to all fours and delivering a savage bite to the neck of hers.

Anuruk dueled with hers before he lunged out, grabbing the axe and trying to wrench it from her. They spun while they fought until his back was to Neph. Anuruk glanced over the top of the man's head and they nodded to each other. Neph's eyes glowed again as she brought up another root from the soil, wrapping it around his leg and letting the thorns dig deep into the skin. She pulled him down and off balance causing him to sway and let go of the axe. He didn't have enough time to protest before Anuruk brought the axe down and laid him out in the dirt. Ganora dragged hers down by the teeth, wrestling him to the ground long enough to take out one of her own hand axes and hack him in the neck to still him. Behind them, Gryffin had his pinned to the ground below him.

Am felt the fight winding down and sighed, but something was troubling him. He could have sworn there was another... And then he saw him. Back out of the flattened ring of wheat, among the taller stalks, a crossbow bolt was poking out from the greenery. Am could follow the line to see him aiming at Gryffin.

With no time to warn him, Am spun on his heels, throwing a hand out. A sparkling beam of divine energy shot through them and into the tall grass right where the crossbow was showing. There was a cry and the crossbow tilted skyward, the bolt firing and missing all of them.

The road went silent, aside from the one still struggling beneath Gryffin.

"Anyone want to help me with this?!" he called.

"Get off me!" the man called, or more appropriately the boy. He couldn't have been much older than Am, or possibly younger, though he appeared to have lived a rough life until then, with scuffs over his face, dark matted hair and sunken cheeks.

"I got it," Anuruk muttered, hefting her axe.

"No wait!" Am called, holding up a hand. "Is he armed?" he asked.

"Not right now," replied Gryffin.

"Let him go."

"What?! He was trying to kill us!"

"He can't now," said Am, "He'd be a fool to try anything with us now. Isn't that right?" he asked the man. Am's more calm voice seemed to pierce through his anger, and he looked around slowly, taking stock of his odds. He stopped struggling against Gryffin, and the tiefling slowly released him.

"What's your name?" asked Am, kneeling down. The man's face could sour milk, his eyes were downcast in the dirt.

"Reginald. They called me Reggie."

"Reggie? Were these men your friends?"

"No... we just worked together. Ain't got no friends."

"You may have just made some," Am said. He reached into his vestments and pulled out a few gold coins, taking the man's hand before he could pull away and dropping them into his palm. "We don't want to kill you, Reggie-"

"Speak for yourself," said Anuruk.

"Most of us don't want to kill you, Reggie. But we will, if we have to," Am continued, looking around at the other men that lay around them. His eyes were hurt and a little watery, but Am sniffed and shook it off. "You can go with your life, but you have to promise us that you're not going to do this again. Head on back to White Oak Pastures. This coin should last you a few days. If you promise to find a different line of work, then you're free. But if we find out you left and went back on your word..."

Reggie looked to all of them to gauge the veracity of this statement. All of them looked threatening in their own ways, from Anuruk cracking her knuckles, Neph's glowing eyes, Gryffin reloading a crossbow, and Ganora's jaws dripping with the fresh blood of his comrade. Whatever fight he still had left him and he nodded, pocketing the coin.

"Aye... ye won't hear no trouble from me. On my life."

"It certainly is," said Am, standing again. "Now go."

With that, Reggie lifted himself from the dirt, dusted himself, and promptly practically ran from them, heading the way they had come.

"You didn't have to do that," Anuruk mused.

"Yes I did. And I plan on doing it again. There was someone else in the tall grass. Is he still there?" Am asked. Ganora and Neph turned and walked over the flattened crops to the place Am indicated, making their way into the taller stalks and back several paces.

It took them a moment, but finally, Nephalanu's foot brushed something. Moving some of the crops aside, she found a prone form lying still beneath her. He was dead, crossbow laying at his side, a hole burning with divine energy seared through his chest.

"Did you find him?" Am called. Neph was about to answer when Ganora put a hand on her shoulder.

"No. He's gone," Ganora called back. "Must have ran."

"Shame," said Anuruk. There was the sound of her hefting her axe, footsteps in the dirt as they began to move. There was the sound of Anuruk's axe hitting the dirt as she began to clear the way for graves.

"Why did you do that?" Neph whispered to Ganora as they began to walk back.

"It's easier on him," replied Ganora. Together, they exited the wheat and began to bury the highwaymen.


	4. The Obelisk

If Silverwind City was the crown of the Imperium, then Rosalia City was its jewel. Like its namesake, it bloomed from the center of Extera outward, trade roads branching out from beneath the walls like vines from a rosebush. Acres of fertile farmland and verdant meadow sprawled out in a quilted patchwork of color around it, sated by the nearby lake and its spidery rivers. Rocky dirt paths flattened through the fields before becoming proper paved roads of light beige stone, which led to tall white walls gathered around white buildings with red-shingled rooftops. Behind the city, the sun was cresting over the small Rose Gold Mountain Range as late morning turned to midday.

Approaching the city meant approaching people and soon they were not the only ones using the road toward the city. As they made their way around passersby, people glanced them over, then glanced again as their eyes trailed up toward the massive head of the white gnoll in their midst. Ganora bared long fangs in a grin, but it was only when they looked down to her wrappings that they continued on their way.

"More roses," Ganora muttered, scratching at her side.

"Something's not right," Am remarked, face pinched in thought. "It's a market day. The streets should be packed with people. But there's barely anyone out."

Anuruk mussed with the open collar of her rough shirt. "Can't imagine it has anything to do with the swarms of undead south of here."

"Maybe," Am admitted, but he wasn't fully convinced, playing with the red tassels of his vestments. They made their way to the large gates of the city, where two guards armored in white and red stopped them.

"State your business."

"Obelisk," huffed Ganora.

"Excuse me?"

"We're looking for the Obelisk. Mind pointing us in the right direction?" Am asked. The two guards looked to one another, then back to the group. It looked as though they might say something to Ganora, but looking at the rose emblazoned on her wraps seemed to think better of it.

"Not much to see, but sure. Near the center of town. Can't miss it. Just follow the roads," said the man.

"Don't make any messes," the woman on the right declared before both of them stood aside and let the party pass, eyes following them all the way.

The city was just as beautiful on the inside as it was out - greenery interlaced and interwoven with civilization. Trees grew between almost all of the houses, creating small, random parks spread throughout the area. The party passed over waterways, smelling fresh and magically clean as opposed to the diseased latrines in Silverwind. Yet despite the happy burbling of the little artificial streams and bright sunshine, the streets appeared ominously bare. There were people coming and going, but they were sparse and always moving slowly in tired marches or shuffling steps. The party could spread out and take up most of the path without worrying about bumping into anyone.

Only when they turned down the Market Street did they speak again.

"What was that about?" Nephalanu asked.

Ganora shrugged. "Guess they don't like me."

"Racists," Gryffin remarked. "They seem to be fine with half-orcs and dragonborn, but a gnoll is too much?"

Anuruk was scanning the street around them, empty of all other life. "I'm beginning to see what you mean about there not being a lot of people."

"And this is Market Street," Am replied. "It should be standing room only through here. And there's no one. Even when it's not market day it should be packed."

"Well at least there should be room at the inn," Neph said. "We can find a place to put down our things and then head to the Obelisk. Looks like it's that way." She pointed forward and up. Though most of the buildings around them were at least two stories tall, the Obelisk rose twice their height and could be seen from where they were not too far off, shining black stone towering above them.

They continued moving toward the Obelisk in the distance until they came upon one of the larger inns.

"This one should be big enough," Anuruk said.

Amari frowned. "Might be a touch expensive if it's so big. If we can find a church I could talk to them about getting us rooms there."

"If the streets aren't full, then there shouldn't be that many people inside," Gryffin remarked, opening the door for them to enter. "Rooms should be cheaper. Let's just check."

The interior was indeed nice, as far as taverns went. A wide dining area made up the first floor of the Skilled Rose Inn, with professionally stained tables glossy with polish and plush seats for sitting. Though there were ales and other liquors on the shelves behind the bar, there were also expensive looking bottles of wine. A door behind the bar seemed to lead to a well stocked kitchen, and there was the sound of food cooking in the back.

Besides them, there were no other clientele within.

They were only alone for a moment before the bell above alerted the purveyor of the establishment, who pushed her way inside through the doors leading to the kitchen. Her hair cradled her round face in red ringlets, cheeks flushed and dotted with freckles. She was shorter for a human, only about as tall as Amari, with wide hips and hands thick and muscular. Still, her blue eyes were kind and her smile inviting and she clapped her hands together.

"Oh splendid! Yes, welcome to the Skilled Rose, weary travelers! How can I make you comfortable?"

"We're looking for rooms?" Gryffin asked. "But this might be a little too nice for us, from the inside-"

"Oh nonsense, dear! Why, we're having a special right now on rooms, and discounts for groups. We'd be happy to find something here to fit your budget," she interjected.

Gryffin gave a crooked smile to the rest of them. "Then we'll take what you have."

"Wonderful! Surely you must be hungry. I can make you all something, but I apologize, I can't offer a full menu. We have our provided provisions, but it should be enough, even for the... goodness." Her eyes trailed upward to Anuruk and Ganora respectively as they moved in closer, both of them wearing their most genial smiles.

All teeth and tusks.

"Anuruk, ma'am," Anuruk said, by way of introduction.

"I'm Ganora. You don't have to stare."

"My apologies," the woman said, cheeks reddening. "I'm Miriam. If there's anything you need just let me know. All of you make yourselves comfortable and I can grab you something to eat."

"You said you didn't have much to offer," Amari said, taking a seat at a table large enough for all of them to fit. "Why is that? This is the nicest looking inn we've seen in the city. Can you not afford food and drink?" His concern was mirrored on Miriam's face as she sighed, shaking her head.

"Aye, we run a fine establishment here, it's true. But Rosalia's had to resort to strict rationing since trade's been cut off. We haven't had a fresh batch of supplies in the city in weeks, only what we have in stores and caches." Her face was creased with worry, but she quickly replaced her consternation with a tired smile. "But don't worry, dears, we have plenty for you. Simple but hearty."

"That's terrible," Amari replied.

Neph nodded. "Does anyone know what's causing it?"

"Raiders," Miriam answered. "Bandits. Malcontents of an unknown number. They've been stealing all the shipments, but I've had yet to hear if anyone knows where they're keeping them. They're not attempting to ransom back to Rosalia as far as I know. They must be using them."

"Sounds like a job for the town watch," muttered Anuruk, taking a seat across from Amari. "City this size would have plenty of troops."

"They do," replied Miriam, "On a normal day. But all of Rosalia's standing watch was sent to the frontlines at Silverwind to fight the hordes. The city is underfed and under-protected. It's a hard situation, but we're making the best of it. Now, I'll be back. I promise you won't go hungry while you're here, loves. We'll sort it out in a few days, surely."

~~

Miriam was good to her word - they did not go hungry. The meal she provided was indeed simple, mostly meat and potatoes, but it was filling. They left their things in their newly acquired rooms, with their downy beds and clean linens, before taking their leave and making their way to the town square, with its towering black Obelisk in the center.

It was easy to imagine the open stone square full of people - spending some of their leisure in the parks before returning home, or coaxing a cart laden with goods from their farms outside the city to their market street stands, or resting beneath the shade of a tree while waiting for a lover or a rendezvous with a friend. Yet the only thing in the plaza at the moment were the trees far off to the sides, marking the entry to the green parks that broke off from the square, the towering black Obelisk and it's one armored guard, sitting on the steps and looking agonizingly bored. Beyond that they were completely alone.

"Well, we're here," Anuruk said. "Now what?"

Neph frowned. "I honestly expected something more to happen. Now that I'm closer, a big black Obelisk really doesn't scream magic school to me."

"Sol said they were inside right?" Amari asked. "There must be a way."

Amari and Gryffin began to pace the outside of the Obelisk in different directions, checking for some form of entry. They both met on the other side and shrugged. The surface appeared smooth and impenetrable all the way around. Anuruk joined them at the back, walking up the wide stairs to the base and taking a fist to the rock.

"Hello! We were sent here to find you!" she called. They waited for a moment in silence.

Nothing.

"What was his name again?" she asked.

"Master Attrix, I think," Amari replied.

"Hey Attrix!" she called, returning to pounding her fist on the stone. "Need to talk to you! Kind of important! Don't really have all day!" By now, the rest of the group had joined them on the other side, but there was still no reply.

"Maybe he's not there?" Gryffin asked.

"Or maybe there's no school inside a big rock and Sol's memory isn't what it used to be," Anuruk said.

"I understand that you all must have some kind of business important to you," came a gruff voice, "but can you at least keep it down?" They looked over to see the one guard, back leaning against the black stone, eyebrow raised and frowning.

"Sorry. We just really need to speak to Attrix," Neph said.

The guard shrugged. "Sorry, but the master's very busy, surely. If you don't have an appointment, which I suspect is the case, then you'll have to make on and come back. Should be about a week."

"A week?!" Anuruk exclaimed. "We don't have that kind of time!"

"Sorry, miss. Without the proper clearances, I'm afraid it's impossible."

"Clearances?" Amari asked. "This could be a matter of life and death."

"Says every student with a late assignment," the guard retorted. "Of which you look about the age. Sorry, kid. Those are the rules."

"Look, pal, we really don't want to be more forceful about this," Anuruk growled, popping a few knuckles and she clenched a fist.

The guard casually laid a hand on his sword hilt at his hip. "Threatening one of the few members of the town guard Rosalia has left? Very unwise."

Behind them, Neph had her fingers to her chin, brow wrinkled in concentration. After a moment, she snapped her fingers, rolling her eyes.

"What would you say if we told you Red Rose?"

"What?"

"Red Rose? How about that?" The group of them turned back to her, then back to the guard. He raised an eyebrow and waited for a long few heartbeats before shrugging.

"Yea. That would work."

"Seriously?!" she exclaimed.

"Don't forget the password next time. Gods..." he complained. With that, he leaned back and started drawing with a lazy hand. Across the face of the stone, the guard traced some sort of arcane insignia before placing his hand over it. There was a flash of light as an outline of an ornate doorway illuminated across the stone. When it was complete, the outline split open to reveal an entryway to some other space beyond. "Better hurry. Class is starting soon. Wouldn't want to make him late."

The rest of the group looked to one another for only a moment before entering through the doorway single-file, Anuruk taking the lead.

The fact that became most obvious first was that the space was bigger on the inside than out. The diameter of the Obelisk was about thirty feet, while the room within immediately doubled that. There was only a faint sense of vertigo that accompanied stepping over the threshold, but it faded within moments. The interior of the Obelisk, if that was indeed where they still were, was well furnished and cozy, a space certainly befitting one with the title of Master. There were beakers of strange liquids bubbling and boiling over burners exuding odd smells of alchemicals and old men, herbs and flora hanging in long lines around the room. Dusty bookshelves covered every wall, with space allowed only for doors. Each shelf was packed to capacity with tomes and scrolls. The boards of the floor were well worn, the rugs soft with the treads of the many feet that came before. At the center was a heavy wooden desk laden with sheets of paper and spent inkwells. Behind the desk, an elder elf man in fine green and red robes with the hood drawn up was busy making notes with a scraggly quill, long ears protruding out from the corners of his hood. His face was cleanly shaven, and though his skin looked flushed and healthy, there were lines of age around the mouth and brow that belied a vast collection of years spent in careful study and deep concentration.

"You're a bit later than I hoped," he said with a dry, airy voice. "But I suppose these are difficult times for travel. Certainly here in Rosalia. Please, come in. Mind your step," he said. He waved a wrinkled hand as a litany of chairs for them to sit in seemed to materialize from thin air. They blinked as their entryway closed behind them.

"You would be Master Attrix?" Amari asked.

"The very same," he replied. The group took their seats in front of his desk as he took one behind it, folding his hands in front of him. "Sol sent word. Said you would be coming with a few questions I might be able to answer for you."

"He sent word and you didn't let us in when we got here?" Anuruk asked.

"I wasn't aware you were here."

"Your guard sure was. He wasn't very helpful letting us in."

Master Attrix raised a gray eyebrow. "I shall have a talk with him. Rest assured, he'll be disciplined appropriately. Now," he said, leaning forward, placing his elbows on the desk, "Sol was not very detailed in his missive concerning you. I must say I'm rather curious about the nature of your failure and what it means for us."

The group shared another look as it occurred to each of them that Master Attrix was not the sort of person one would want to cross, student or otherwise.

"We wish we could tell you," Amari said, shoulders slumped.

"Why can't you?"

"We don't remember what happened," Gryffin said, arms crossed and balanced on the back two legs of the chair. "All of our memories from the last year are gone."

Master Attrix's eyebrows rose. "Oh. Well that is concerning."

"You don't happen to be one of those people we used to know but don't anymore?" Anuruk asked.

"This is our first time meeting," he said. "I knew about you as members of the resistance when you were helping them, but by then, things were moving quickly. It was not necessary for us to speak then as it is now. That you don't remember what happened is no excuse, we have to make a new plan with whatever information you have left." The group winced. Master Attrix was a stern instructor.

"Ancient magic," Ganora said. "It had something to do with that."

"Yes," said Amari. "Were you the one to come up with the plan before?"

"Not entirely," he replied. "I was consulted, but it was mostly Ventra's idea. I instructed the resistance to keep the details a secret from me. The fewer people that knew the full scope of their plan, the safer they would be from infiltration and sabotage. Though apparently that was not enough. It would seem Ventra was dealing with a magic she did not quite understand."

"Well if they didn't know and you don't know, then how are we supposed to keep going?" Anuruk asked.

"Just because we do not know does not mean we cannot find out," Master Attrix explained. "Unfortunately, I am in need of some specific components for a spell that may help to enlighten us concerning the nature of your venture."

"You seem pretty decked out," Anuruk said. "Magically speaking."

Master Attrix nodded. "I suppose I am 'decked out' as you say. Yet I just so happen to be out of the specific components I need. I had ordered more to be imported for my personal collection, but that shipment was lost along with the other imports of supplies to the city." He stroked his chin thoughtfully. "I wonder if we may be mutually beneficial to one another."

"You want us to get your stuff for you," Ganora said bluntly.

Master Attrix nodded. "I have kept abreast of the information concerning our lost shipments and the loss of supplies to the city and have agreed to help where I can. We have only recently heard rumors of the culprits bringing crates of what could only be our supplies into the Rose Gold Mines. I assume they have cleared it out for their own purposes. My personal shipments are imported from abroad via Oceanbreeze, thus they tend to be stored in an azure blue box. If you can find them and bring them to me, I will be better suited to help you, and you would have done a service for Rosalia in perhaps returning the stolen supplies. Would you say you're up for the task?"

~~

"We just got here," Anuruk said. "And now we're already leaving. Is it really going to be like this all the time now?" Behind them, the walls of Rosalia were fading into the distance as all of them made their way toward the Rose Gold Mountain Range, following the overgrown, neglected dirt path toward the mine.

"If we are going to do this, bringing down a tyrant probably isn't going to involve long leisurely stays in fancy inns, babe," Neph said. "It's going to be a lot of work. A fair bit of fighting."

Anuruk smiled, revealing the full length of her sharp tusk. "You should have led with the fighting part."

Further conversation was replaced with quiet concentration on the path ahead as the incline became steeper and the road more rocky. As they passed over the threshold of the mountain range, their steps required more forethought to prevent them from sliding back into one another, and the group pulled into a single file line as they began the slow ascent toward the mine. The trees slowly evolved from oaks to evergreens, the ground littered with browning pine needles and dry cones that crunched underfoot as they continued up.

As the mountains began to loom larger over them and the trees began to choke off the path, other landmarks began to appear. Abandoned carts and crates littered the road, pushed off to the side haphazardly as wheels had broken and crates had been emptied of their goods.

"We must be on to something. These look like supplies for the town," Neph remarked.

Ganora huffed. "Not going to be much to bring back."

"If there's enough supplies for a whole city," Amari said, "this probably isn't everything. I'm sure they have the rest protected somewhere."

Amari finished speaking just as they rounded the bend, coming around another destroyed cart pushed off to the side of the path. Sixty feet in front of them the path entered into a dark mine shaft hewn from the mountain side, cart tracks trailing out a few feet and ending just outside. On either side of the wood frame, two stern looking men in tattered leather armor were leaning against the rock face, arms crossed.

Amari threw out an arm to stop everyone, falling back against them and forcing them behind the damaged cart. There was a pregnant silence as he waited for the sound of angry voices, but none came.

"What's the matter?" Anuruk asked.

"Ssh!" Amari shushed. "There are people guarding the entrance."

Anuruk shrugged. "So? That's never stopped us before."

"There could be more just inside," Gryffin whispered. "We don't want to get overwhelmed."

"That seems like where they took everything," Neph said. "We can't just wait out here forever. We need some kind of plan..."

"Hey!" Anuruk called. All of them turned in tandem to find she had silently left her place behind everyone and was now approaching the guards down the path.

Immediately, the men reached for their weapons. The one on the right had half his face obscured by a scarf, while the other had a long scar running from temple to chin.

"Who goes?"

"Uh... we do," Anuruk said, looking back to the rest of the group. It occurred to them rather suddenly that perhaps she was interested in a plan, but didn't want to wait long enough to make one. Neph stepped out from behind the cart, motioning for the rest of them to follow.

"Hail," she said, waving a pale hand. "We've come to relieve you."

"Relieve us?"

"We're mercenaries. New recruits brought in to help lighten the load," she lied.

The two guards traded a dubious look. "We don't need any more muscle," the scarred one growled. "Take your shit and go."

"Oh, oh we're not fighters. We're the maintenance crew," she continued.

"We don't follow."

"We're here to repair armor, reinforce the mine, and see to any injuries or illness. We have skilled craftspeople and healers. You didn't hear we'd be coming?" The rest of the group all turned to Neph in concerned silence. The two guards traded another look and shook their heads. "It was very last minute," she continued, "I'm sure it was just a misunderstanding."

"Look," the scarfed one replied, "our orders are to let anyone through. You're lucky we're not already picking the armor of your corpses. Leave with your lives and don't come back."

"You're going to get in trouble," growled Ganora.

"Excuse me?"

"Yea," Anuruk added. "Are you going to be the one to explain to your boss that you didn't let us through? Just look at that armor. It's barely hanging on you."

The scarfed guard picked at one of the threadbare straps of his chest piece, while the scarred one cleared his throat.

"And we're supposed to believe craftsmen are out here carrying great axes and crossbows?"

"We live in dangerous times," Gryffin replied while hefting the crossbow. "Can't fault mercenaries for defending themselves, can you?"

The slight pause lengthened into an extended silence, the two guards shrugging to each other, legs bouncing where they were leaning on the rock face in indecision.

"We can prove it," Neph finally said. "Our man here can repair your armor right now if you want." She reached out and patted Amari on the back. He blinked in confusion.

"I can?"

"He'll let you, don't worry. We were promised safe passage through and swift payment. Go on ahead and show him," she said, pushing him forward.

"I... uh... Of course. Yes, of course I have a spell that can repair armor. Let me show you," Amari said. With slow, deliberate steps, Amari made his way down the path alone, arms held out in front of him as a sign of peace until he made it to the mine entrance. He approached the scarred guard, who lowered his crossbow while his companion hefted his.

"Watch yourself, son," he warned.

Amari kept his hands in front of him. "There's nothing to worry about. Here," he said. Amari reached out and laid a pale hand on the frayed leather chest piece. Pale light radiated out from his hand, suffusing the armor with glowing light. A moment passed before the straps of the armor rethreaded and tightened, the dents and cracks in the leather sealing as though they were never there. When the light faded, the armor had undergone a significant improvement.

"Oh..." said the guard, hands running over the armor. "Thanks, kid."

"Of course," said Amari. "You're very welcome."

"All right," the other guard said. "The kid goes in. The rest of you can go until he's done."

Anuruk took a step forward. "That wasn't part of the deal."

"There was no deal, if I recall. Like I said, you're lucky you're still alive. You can go, but he stays."

"I can repair your armor too," Gryffin said, raising a hand. The guards raised an eyebrow.

"You can?" Neph asked.

"Of course, just like Amari. I can show you," he offered.

After a moment of thought, the guard motioned Gryffin forward. He made his way over in silent steps until he was standing in front of the guard.

"Okay, here we go," he said, reaching down and pulling the glove off his hand. There was a moment as the guard looked down, his eyes growing wide before Gryffin whispered, "I'm sorry..."

The glow that came from Gryffin's hand was warmer than the one that Amari had created. It quickly bloomed into a fiery blaze that erupted from his hand. There wasn't enough time for the guard to cry out before his body was consumed in flames.

Next to them, both Amari and the other guard were stunned watching the display. It took the guard a moment to come back to himself enough to raise his crossbow at Gryffin, which he promptly dropped when a hand axe landed squarely in his neck. He stumbled back and slumped against the rock face, sliding down into stillness. In front of Gryffin, there was only a sooty outline of the man's form on the rocks behind, along with a smoldering pile of burnt leather and blackened flesh at his feet. Amari looked behind to see Ganora stalking up, wrenching the axe she had thrown out of the guard and returning it to her belt. There was a shared sense of relief, but all eyes were on Gryffin as he finished fitting the glove back over his hand.

"What did you do?" Anuruk asked as she approached.

Gryffin didn't answer for a few heartbeats. When he turned to them, he was wearing a tired half smile. "We can talk about it later. We should hurry."


	5. Rose Gold Mines

The close walls of the mine shaft swiftly quenched the light from outside as the group entered, carefully making their way down into the mountain. When they reached the first bend, they could begin to hear the first sounds of habitation. Distant voices spoke to each other and torches had been lit sporadically to illuminate a small portion of the interior.

Gryffin crouched and moved further ahead. "Let me see what's up ahead before we move passed," he said. He silently tread on, ducking behind overturned mining carts, debris, and boulders as he made his way forward and out of sight. Moments passed in tense silence before the luminescence of his eyes approached them again, glowing slightly through the shadows.

"The light is dim, but there's definitely a fair number of them guarding a cache of crates. From the ones that are broken, it's grains and other goods, and more than what a few bandits would need. Definitely the supplies from the town."

"Solves that problem," Anuruk whispered. "Let's go smash some skulls."

Gryffin shook his head. "I want to keep moving a little further up. If we start fighting we're going to make noise. I don't want whatever help they have to be more ogres or something else ugly."

"I'm not seeing a problem," she replied, shrugging to Ganora.

"Follow me up a little further and then wait. I want to see if there might be a way for us to move around them unseen. Maybe we don't have to fight so many at once. Come on," he said, crouching back down and moving forward, tail swishing behind him. The rest of the group followed in kind, keeping low to the ground as best they could.

Around the bend, the mine widened into a larger chamber. The floor was lined with wood and iron tracks with several switch-lanes so that minecarts could be traded onto different routes more easily. Shovels, pickaxes, boxes of candles, and other mining equipment were strewn about and left from the bandits picking through them.

The "cache" as Gryffin had called it looked more like a mountain, palettes of boxes all piled around one another. The ones near the bottom of the stack had been opened to reveal their contents: sacks of wheat, grains, seeds, flour, sugar, salts, and more. All the various necessities of a city all gathered in a single place. Gathered around, picking at the half-eaten loaves of bread and cheese wheels were several bandits guarding the stash; three leaning on the crates and two at each end of the chamber. The two closest to the group were just ten feet away, their backs to them, leaning against either side of the wall. There was a small gap to the left of one of the guards behind an overturned boulder that led around the back of the chamber where the light didn't reach, underneath the shadow of the crates and through to the other side.

"I'm just sayin," one the guards at the other end of the chamber said, "it's odd."

An elven man with close cut hair and a nicked ear was hefting a wheel of cheese from the crate and slicing into it with his dagger. "If I remember our contract, I don't recall being paid for saying anything. Or thinking, for that matter."

"Definitely for silence," another one added, crunching into a browning apple. "I definitely remember that part."

"None of you are the boss," the first one retorted, crossing his arms. "It has to do with our pay."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, why aren't we takin' this lot and makin' tracks? Fencin' all these supplies back to a guild or some dumb merchant who don't know where they come from? We'd make more than twice what we're gettin' paid just to sit here and take more. All of this is just sittin' here, gatherin' dust."

The rest of the bandits looked to one another as the group made their move, carefully slipping single file through the opening, just a few feet from the bandit nearest the entryway, and beginning to make their way along the shadows toward the other side.

The elf bit into the cheese wedge he'd cut. "Now now..." he warned, his voice menacingly low. "You're lucky the boss isn't here, lest he think you're entertaining mutinous thoughts like those. Just know that I'm saving your life by telling you to shut your hole and do as you're told. Nothing more."

"I ain't talkin' about mutiny," he argued, though he cast a wary eye toward the other entrance. The party stopped, waited for his gaze to shift, then continued along the wall as he said, "If the boss ain't interested in gettin' paid then fine, but I am. As are all of you. If we wait too much longer all these goods are gonna spoil, and we won't get nothin' we're owed."

"What are you suggesting?" his partner asked, tapping a foot.

"Move a few crates off the back of the pile outside. Come nightfall, we bring 'em back to town, make a little sale."

"And when the boss's sums are off tomorrow, what do you propose to tell him?"

"That they spoiled and we disposed of 'em before the other ones went bad. Another shipment's swingin' close by tomorrow. He'll be too preoccupied to care."

"I dunno..." the elf said, rubbing his mottled chin.

The rest of the group was rounding the back of the aforementioned pile of crates. The squeeze was tight, and they had to sidle carefully along the back wall of the mine to get through. One by one they filed through, halfway across the chamber now without being noticed.

As the widest of the group, Ganora had the hardest time squeezing herself through the space. As she did so, she moved some of the crates forward without meaning too. A cascading shift ran all the way up the cache, dislodging one of the larger crates from the top.

"Look out!" The bandit called. The elf on the pile had just enough time to roll out of the way before the crate came slamming down, shattering into splinters and rolling squash that littered the rest of the chamber floor.

As the last vegetable rolled to a stop, all heads turned to the pile. Around the far corner, toward the other side of the chamber, Gryffin and Neph had begun to make their way over, but were now caught out in the open. From behind the crates, there was a softly whispered, "Sorry..." from Ganora, audible throughout most of the chamber.

The moments lengthened as the bandits stared at Gryffin and Neph with a mixture of disbelief and burgeoning anger.

"What in Gods' name-"

"Your management here sucks," Neph remarked. "Might as well just give this all back."

There was a titter of incredulous laughter from the bandit who had suggested the scam, then a prolonged silence as the rest of the bandits glared him down.

Finally, the elf dusted himself off and motioned to his companions.

"Well? Do your jobs. Kill them."

"Are we still doing the plan? Like the supply selling plan?"

"We'll talk about it later-"

"I just want to make sure we don't forget about it-"

"Just get on with it!"

The bandit troupe all drew their various weapons, an assortment of hand axes, shortswords, daggers, and a rapier from the elf.

Ganora snorted. "Was tired of sneaking anyway." She snarled, kicking the back of the crates again and causing a few more large ones to tumble down from the top. They crashed into the floor of the mine, exploding into a wash of seeds and powdery flour that dusted the entire chamber.

"Scatter!" Anuruk called. She vaulted over the broken crates, running straight to the guards that were watching the far chamber. Both of them ducked out of the way of her axe as it gouged into the dirt behind them. When they both struck out at her at the same time, she blocked them both with either side of her axe, placing herself firmly in front of the way out of the chamber. "Keep them here so they don't bring more!"

"On it!" Neph answered, eyes already glowing. She planted her bare feet firmly on the dirt floor, raising her hands as long vines sprouted from the earth, shifting crates out of the way as they grabbed at the ankles of the bandits traversing the wreckage. Two were stopped dead, tripping over themselves and having to turn their attention to freeing themselves from the vines.

The elf was deft enough to get out of the way, standing atop a crate and kicking wood scraps on top of the vine reaching for him, crushing it underfoot. When he looked around and saw the source of the obstacle, he hopped from crate to crate to get closer to Neph, sword drawn. Casting the spell, closed in by the fallen crates, she couldn't move far enough away in time. As he stabbed out, the tip of his blade seemed to glide away from her body, piercing into more wood as her body was enveloped by a faint radiance that just caught the torchlight. His head whipped around to see Amari's eyes also glowing, hand outstretched toward Neph in a protective gesture.

"You're going to have to deal with me first," he said, his voice shaking only a little.

The elf frowned, pulling free the sword and flipping it in his hands. "Oh I intend to." His eyes trailed up from Amari, however, as he was cast in the long shadow of Ganora stepping into his path, hefting her great axe, her long teeth exposed in a terrifying snarl.

"And me?" she asked. The elf's bravado had shriveled some, but he still set his jaw and lunged. Ganora yipped as the blade buried itself arm before she batted him away. He managed to just move out of the way of her counter swing as she cleaved into another crate, nearly splitting it all the way through.

"Stop that cleric!" the elf called. He reached to his belt as he vaulted back, flinging one of the throwing knives toward Ganora. It was a small blade, but it landed in the upper right of her chest with a snarl.

Heeding their apparent commander's orders, the other two guards waiting by the entrance began to converge on Amari, stepping around the boxes. Amari retreated until his back was at the wall, eyes also still glowing and hand outstretched to Neph to maintain his shield around her. As one hefted the warhammer he held with both hands, he cried out and stumbled back, a crossbow bolt emerging from his abdomen. The other man had just enough time to duck behind a box as another bolt buried itself in the wood. Amari looked around to see the barest tip of a horn sticking out from behind one of the crates Ganora had knocked over, tail swishing from the side.

Behind him, Anuruk shoved her two assailants back. Yet when she tried to pressure them back further into the chamber, the one to her left dodged under her swing, sword cutting through her side. He drove a knee into the new wound, making her double over. The other brought the pommel of his sword down on her back, driving her to the ground. He then turned and made to run for the exit and retreat further into the mine.

Prone on the ground, Anuruk could only reach out with her axe with one hand, guiding the blade so it hooked around the man's ankle as he fled. It tripped him up, sending him sprawling into the ground. She growled and reared back, driving her head into the other bandit's nose as he tried to bare down on her. She rose, taking her hooked victim with her. Bringing the axe back to her height forced him to flip over onto his back. Splayed out, she had a perfect target to bring the blade down into his chest and open him up a wet thunk.

Anuruk turned, expecting the other one to attack while her back was turned. But when she looked he had dropped his sword, hands clutching at his newly flattened nose, blood pouring from his face. Instead, he produced a hand crossbow from his belt, turned, and fired directly at Neph.

"Don't!" Anuruk shouted, but the bolt was already in flight. It clipped Neph in the arm and stayed, and she hissed, eyes closing. Around her, the vines she had called forth stilled and the two men she had captured freed themselves and advanced on her.

Before they could reach her, one took another bolt to the shoulder. With a shout, both of them turned to see Gryffin still hiding behind the crates, eyes lightly glowing in the dimness of the chamber.

"Stop him so we can handle the magic users!" The other said. The wounded man grimaced, looking reluctant to approach Gryffin, but ducked down. Moments passed as the two waited before Gryffin took a shot. Though he thought he had a clean shot, it went too high. The man scrambled over the boxes faster than Gryffin could reload before slashing out with his hand axe, taking chunks out of the dirt with each swing and sending Gryffin reeling.

The men that were advancing on Neph and Amari turned to see Ganora standing in their way again. The elf stepped up with them, flipping his sword from one hand to another.

"Touch them and you die," Ganora growled, hackles up and teeth bared.

The confident grin of the elf had returned. "I doubt it. But don't worry. Once we cage you up for the boss you can feed on their scraps. That's all a monster like you is good for." Ganora's enormous hand clenched into a fist and she roared, rushing the three of them. But the elf was ready to side step, driving his shortsword through her abdomen. Through it came through to the other side, she didn't stop moving, driving both of them back another ten feet.

Taken by surprise, the elf did what he could to brace himself on an overturned minecart as Ganora swung down in a rage. "Get them now!" he called. He pulled the sword free and tumbled backward over the mine cart as Ganora's great axe sent a shower of sparks over the side, steel blade sliding over the cart's steel reinforcements.

Consumed by anger as she was, she didn't notice the other two begin to step forward again. Neph looked around quickly before grabbing the rusty lever that controlled the track switch for the carts. She pulled it broke along where the rust had gathered before pounding the end into the ground, producing a hollow ring. Her eyes flashed green as gnarled roots rose from the dirt and encompassed the outside of the lever, transforming and reinforcing the impromptu weapon into something more like the bough of a tree.

She lashed out with it, catching her assailant by surprise and striking him in the chest. When she tried to swing again, he grabbed one side and held it fast.

"Not as good at close range, are you Miss?" he asked, lunging with his sword. Neph flinched as though it would land, but it glided along the radiant shield instead. "Damnit!" he shouted, swinging again. The shield around her faded, but her attacker also stopped moving. His eyes grew wide as his body became still, almost frozen in place. Only his eyes continued to move, glancing around in a panic, his body shaking with the effort to move. Yet he was completely frozen mid-swing. Neph looked to her side to see Amari's focus shifted to her attacker, hand outstretched and book open before him.

"Now's your chance! Ah!" he shouted, as the other bandit stepped up and jammed his own shortsword deep into Amari's shoulder. He winced as the man drove him back against the wall, red blood staining down the front of his white vestments. Yet despite the wound, teeth gritted, Amari's eyes continued to glow and the frozen man was still held in place.

"Let. Him. Go," the man said with a deliberate viciousness, slowly turning the blade. Amari gasped, face pale, but he did not cry out.

"Ach... Ilmater... ," he whispered, hissing. "I will not bend..."

The bandit scoffed and turned to Neph. The man that had been held in place was sprawled at her feet, a fresh head wound bleeding profusely into the dirt floor. The bandit raised an eyebrow, twisting the blade a little more in Amari's shoulder.

"Cast and I take his arm."

Nephalanu hesitated for only a moment when Amari said, "You won't...". Before the man could react, Amari bent his knees and crouched, forcing the blade free from him and cutting him up over the collar. Unprepared for Amari to willfully hurt himself further, he was frozen in place long enough for Neph's eyes to glow once more. She reached out, a vined tendril erupting from the nearby dirt wall. Its thorns pierced the soft flesh of the bandits neck, wrapping around his throat. At his feet, Amari ducked his head and closed his eyes, whispering a soft, "I'm sorry." Neph twisted her fingers into a fist. All Amari heard above his head was a choked protest and a snap before the bandit fell limp and collapsed next to him.

"Are you all right?" Neph asked, looking Amari over. As she walked up, she summoned another vine before the other fallen bandit could rise and pull the bolt from himself, snapping his neck as well. Amari was covered in his own blood and losing more, but he managed a genuine smile through the gore.

"Well enough," Amari said, breathing hard. He braced himself against the wall and pointed to both Anuruk and Ganora. Their bodies shone with a momentary radiance before they breathed easier, some of their wounds having closed up and healed away.

Renewed, Anuruk shoved the man with the broken nose aside, charging forward to Gryffin and his attacker. Unprepared for the speed of her attack, she took a horizontal swipe that lopped the man's head from his shoulders. Before he hit the ground, Gryffin turned to the broken nosed man as he stumbled, firing a bolt. It pierced deep into his neck, lodging in his collarbone and sending him to the ground where he lay gasping, then lay still.

Similarly restored, Ganora continued to shove the man further back, overpowering him one step at a time until his back was to the dirt wall. Pressed there by her axe, she heaved and raised him up off his feet, trapping him there.

"Wait!" he gasped, trying to wriggle free, "we can talk about this! We can make a deal! I can get you anything! Anything at all!"

"You said I was a monster," Ganora growled. Her voice was low now, deep and menacing. She leaned in close, baring her sharp teeth in a savage grin. "You said all I was good for was eating people scraps." A slow and horrific realization began to dawn on the man's face just as Ganora began to snicker her hyena's laugh. "You're more right than you know." She opened her massive jaws, clamping down on the man's neck. Whatever deal he had been about to offer was choked off as she tore at the flesh, cackling with bloody delight until the man's boots ceased kicking against the dirt wall.

She let him slide to the floor in a mangled heap, blood dripping from her maw.

The rest of the group had watched this unfold with a mixture of horror and awe.

Finally, Anuruk cleared her throat.

"Still hungry?"

~~

They barricaded the exit that led out of the chamber while Amari took ten minutes to mutter a prayer from his book, carefully annunciating the words as the entire group was suffused with a radiant glow. Most of their wounds, including the new ones Amari had suffered magically healed, leaving them feeling revitalized and comfortable, say for a few aches and bruises.

Rolling her shoulders, Anuruk walked behind Amari and clapped him on the back as he finished the prayer, nearly knocking him back to the ground.

"I was watching you and Neph," she said, smiling. "Taking a blade like that? Didn't know you had it in you."

Am rubbed the back of his neck. "It was nothing, really. Wasn't the time for panic." He gave a smile and Anuruk turned her attention to Ganora.

"And that was really... something. You know, we might have been traveling around before and already knew this, but I guess I'm just surprised that you... well... I didn't know that you actually-"

"It's okay," she growled. She took the tatters of the elf's shirt and used it to clean the blood from her maw, eyes on Amari. He was leaning against the dirt wall, eyes looking over the barricade, looking pensive. Quietly, Ganora said, "We don't have to talk about it. Let's just get this done and get out of here. This ceiling's too short for me."

"I agree," Nephalanu said. Both Anuruk and Ganora looked her up and down, and she sighed. "Not about the tall part, but I want to be above ground now."

"Well," Anuruk said, "that wasn't exactly quiet."

"Sorry," whispered Ganora."

"I imagine they must know we're here by now," the half-orc continued. "I'm not sure there's much point in being sneaky anymore. And do we see this azure box lying around anywhere?"

After a cursory search, it was quickly determined that the box in question was not among the crates in that chamber.

"It must be further along. Gryffin, can you go ahead of us and just make sure the way is clear?"

The dragonborn nodded, hefting his crossbow.

Neph frowned. "And what's the plan when we get there?"

"We don't know until we look at it whatever is up there. We'll figure it out as we go," replied Anuruk. She hefted her axe back over her shoulder and began moving a few of the crates to clear away their little barricade. They each fell into line behind Gryffin and crouched as low as they could before continuing on through the shaft.

~~

The tunnel continued on for another hundred feet before they came to a small tin building with a wooden frame set into the back wall of the mine. The rest of the tunnel ended abruptly at a lift that continued further down into the earth via a complicated system of pulleys and winches that could be operated from the top and below. The rough wood door hung awkwardly in the frame and the porthole windows were dusted over with years of grime, but there was a visible glow emanating from within. There was also the muffled sound of a few voices and things being moved around.

Gryffin barely poked a horn out from beneath the porthole as he tried to see inside, but shook his head. "Disgusting... I can't see a thing. What do we do?"

"We did say there was no point in being subtle," Neph replied. Without another word, Anuruk stepped up and tried the door, but it wouldn't move. She shoved again, but still nothing.

"I think it's barred. Ganora, would you mind?" she asked. They stood on each side of the door, took a step back, then slammed both shoulders into the wood. The doomed door exploded inward in a shower of splinters and dust as the two of them entered passed the pieces that still hung limply from the frame.

Four more bandits were inside; another elf, half-elf, and a man and woman all dressed in dark leathers. Together, they were moving what looked like crates full of valuables toward the door, anticipating their eminent escape. Another one of their number remained at the back of the small room, leaning back in a wooden chair with his boots kicked up on the desk. A tall, green-skinned half-orc with jet black hair falling to the shoulder and piercing blue eyes, he watched them all with only a mild concern, though the rest of the bandits retreated from the door.

"We did knock," Anuruk said, stepping further in. "Are you running this operation?"

His tusks rode up as he gave a half smile. "I might be," he replied, his voice deep and hoarse.

"You're not really in a position to refuse us. Are you or aren't you?"

The half-orc held up a hand. "Peace, cousin."

"You're no cousin of mine, half-orc or no."

"Fine," he said, shrugging, "have it your way. They call me Raven and yes, this is my job. Now would you kindly butt out so we can get back to work."

Neph stood beside Anuruk, frowning. "I'm not sure we can."

"We're just looking for the supplies," Amari said, one of the last people to enter. "As well as one in particular. But we would be happy to accept your surrender."

Raven raised an eyebrow. "Funny kid. You let him run with you all? That's a little irresponsible. I know, I know," he said, putting his hands in front of him in a placating gesture when the group advanced further into the room. "Perhaps we can come to an arrangement? You take half the supplies, one of the leftover carts we got lying around, and be on your way. You didn't find anyone. There wasn't anything here. I'll even throw in some gold to make it worth your while. What do you say?"'

"How about we take all the supplies back and all your gold when we dragged you back to Rosalia?" Anuruk replied, spinning the axe in her grip. "Sounds like a better deal to me."

Raven shook his head, reaching down to the sheath at his belt and drawing a short, curved sword.

"Don't say I didn't warn you..."


	6. Raven Headquarters

For Anuruk, fighting had been a way of life since the moment she could hold a weapon. Not necessarily violence, per say, or not outright. Her responsibility to her clan meant she was entitled to training others were not permitted to receive. Some days were harder than others and almost none of them without some measure of pain, but she had enjoyed the challenge.

Even better, she was good at it.

Thus the fight that broke out inside the Rose Gold Mines was something she was familiar with. They were evenly matched, but not evenly skilled. That much was clear as two of the bandits charged her, both of which she repelled with a swing of her ax, clearing them out of her way. These were the Raven's best people, that much was true, but not by a large margin. Good help was hard to find, but even harder to train. Shame for them. She whirled and parried, driving both of them back with a flurry of attacks, the ax almost looking light in her practiced hands.

From behind her, Neph watched with interest. Anuruk must have felt her staring because she turned around to face her when she had a free moment.

"I've got this handled! Take him down!" she ordered. She had been speaking solely to Neph, but the rest of the party nodded in tandem at her tone of command.

Where Anuruk had spent her life training for fights like this, Amari was less accustomed to practiced combat. So he shrank back ungracefully when another one of the bandits in the room tried to take advantage of his momentary distraction, closing the distance and trying to push him to the ground to make him easier to hack.

He did stumble back, but before he could be minced, Ganora inserted herself between him and his assailant with a roar. She was at least two heads taller than her opponent and easily made him lose ground, despite their weapons being locked together.

"Get out of the way!" she called back, throwing off the bandit and charging again, her cackling filling the small space and causing her opponents to shiver.

With some of the attention diverted from him, Amari rose, trying not to get overwhelmed with the all of the fighting around him. He couldn't remember being in fights before, at least not like this. Yet his body seemed to know what to do and thus far he had trusted it. But this was closer quarters than before. Inside the chamber or beneath Silverwind, he could focus on his group and make sure they were safe. But like this, he had to focus on everyone, including the other side. He could watch with gruesome detail as Ganora's opponent stab through her bicep and see Anuruk bludgeon one of her bandits with the grip of the ax.

The sight of so much blood, the smell of sweat, the screams and exertions... all of it turned his stomach.

He rallied as much as he could, muttering a prayer under his breath and drawing celestial symbols in the air. They spread out to Ganora, Anuruk, and Gryffin again, a Blessing to help them through the fight. He also sent another symbol through the air to Ganora, healing over the stab wound she had just received.

He glanced over when he felt someone staring at him and turned just in time to meet Raven's glare.

"That one! Take down the cleric!" he shouted. He raised a boot onto the desk, leveling a crossbow over his knee and taking a shot. Amari had no time to react before he felt the searing pain of the bolt embed itself in his arm.

When Gryffin heard Amari cry out, he turned his aim from one of the bandits to Raven himself. The crossbow fired, but Raven was already kneeling behind the desk and the bolt collided harmlessly with the wood.

The only other bandit, hearing his boss's orders, sought to follow them by rushing Amari down while he tried to remove the bolt from his arm. There were only a few steps between him and Amari, but Neph had watched his gaze move over to the cleric. As he closed the distance between them, Neph held out her hands, eyes glowing red with frustration. She threw out a hand, her palm glowing with a magical heat. As the bandit brought up his shortsword, the blade and hilt both began to glow as though pulled straight from the forge. He screamed and released the sword, clattering to the ground and blackening the wood floor with its heat. Though he did not wear a lot of metal armor, what metal he did wear with his leathers began to glow the same way. Hissing in pain and filling the air with innumerable curses, the man began to claw his armor off as fast as he could, trying to alleviate some of the burning.

"Stop! Stop it! Enough! Mercy!"

Neph looked unmoved. "Should have thought of that long before now." She continued holding the spell, eyes burning, as the man fought to free himself from the searing prison of his armor.

Raven rose from behind the cover of his desk. "Keep them busy!" he shouted, turning the crossbow now toward Anuruk and firing. He was an excellent shot – the bolt slipped right through Anuruk's defenses while she was distracted with the other bandits and pierced her shoulder. She gave a frustrated groan, bashing away one attack with the ax. She rotated and pulled the bolt free with the other hand before slamming it into the collarbone of the other attacker.

She grinned, then swayed, suddenly dizzy.

"I... don't feel so great."

"Same here..." Amari muttered, carefully pulling the bolt free, hand shaking. It clattered to the ground and he began to heal the wound, but he looked woozy and pale.

Even from across the room, Ganora's nose twitched. "They're poisoned!" she shouted. Her momentary distraction was enough for her combatant to slash at her again, drawing a bloody line across her midsection. She snarled, but the injury only fueled her forward, battering against the man's defenses with her great ax.

Raven took aim at Ganora while she was distracted, annoyed as she revealed his tactics. But Gryffin made it to him first, slinging the cross bow across his back and taking a running slide across the wood of the desk, unsheathing his knives and stabbing out. Raven managed to avoid on dagger but missed the other, taking a blade to the thigh. There was no time to switch weapons as Gryffin kept striking out, trying to keep Raven occupied. Yet the half-orc managed to catch one of the dragonborn's daggers in the crossbow strings, twisting it and Gryffin's wrist until he dropped it and then battering him with the grip. Momentarily freed, Raven rolled back over the desk to separate himself from Gryffin, though his eyes darted around for another piece of cover.

Seeing both Amari and Anuruk faltering, Neph redoubled her efforts. Her eyes still glowed red hot as one of the bandits finally managed to pull off the sizzling pieces of his armor. His body was now covered in burns underneath, and with no weapons and armor, Neph saw an opportunity. She dropped the spell, the glow in her eyes changing from red to green. She summoned a vine – a gnarled, thorny root that broke from beneath the floorboards at the man's feet – and lashed out. It scored a hit across his abdomen, thorns scourging along the newly acquired burns. The bandit screamed with new pain before being struck again, this time across the leg. One of the thorns bit deep enough to release a spray of blood to the floor. The man swayed and fell back, bleeding out onto the floor around him.

Free to choose her next target, she turned and sent the vine toward Raven. He aimed and fired his crossbow, the bolt nailing the root to the floorboard before it could reach him. Neph bared her teeth in anger, raising a foot and bringing it down hard onto the wood floor. The earth around them shook, dust and splinters raining down from the ceiling. Those around Neph momentarily lost their footing, including Raven, who stumbled to catch himself, eyes turned nervously upward.

"Are you crazy?! You'll kill us all!"

"If you're lackey wasn't clear enough, I'm passed listening," she replied. There was another tremor and the floors shifted. The arrow shaft holding down her summoned root snapped between boards and the root pulled itself free with Neph's coaxing. Before Raven could realize what was happening, she lashed him across the chest with it, tearing into his chain mail and clothes.

Raven hissed and brought the cross bow up again and fired, leaving Neph only moments to move her shoulder out of the way. She wasn't fast enough, hissing as the arrow grazed her arm. She waited, expecting the poison to begin to take hold, but there was almost no pain from the wound. Actually, there was no pain at all.

When she looked down, she glimpsed a radiance stitching the wound together. She turned to see Amari, hand outstretched to her and the rest of the group. He turned to Anuruk as well and some of her wounds also began to close. He looked pale and sick, breathing heavily, leaning against the back wall by the door.

Neph felt her heart sink. "Amari..."

He cut her off. "Don't let him hit you."

Angry that his bolt was not having the desired effect, Raven rounded on Amari and loaded another bolt. "You should have stayed down, but this should do it."

Anuruk, feeling somewhat better as her wounds closed, bashed away one of her attackers. The bandit tried to sweep her legs from under her, but she stepped back and brought the grip of her ax down onto his knee. There was a loud snap and a scream as the bone shattered, though the scream was cut short when Anuruk sank the ax into his chest hard enough to drive him the rest of the way to the floor.

With the bandit out of her line of sight, she could see Raven taking aim. She left the ax stuck into the man's ribs. She couldn't reach her hand axes in time to stop him from taking the shot, and Amari wasn't fast enough to get out of the way. She sighed and reached back.

"Hey you!" she called. "Catch!" With that, she grabbed the wrapped satchel, still containing her grisly prize, and flung it across the room. The ties around the ogre's severed member weren't particularly strong and came undone as it flew through the air. Raven had just enough time to turn toward the voice before the package hit him full force in the face, splattering him with bloody remnants. It made a heavy flop at his feet, revealing its contents.

Utterly shocked, Raven bent down to inspect what had hit him.

"Is that...?" he asked, a growing horror dawning on his features. His hand reached up and scraped some of the bloody mess from his face.

His face became a pale green, sweat collecting on his brow. Without another word, he turned and retched, turning out the contents of his stomach onto the floor.

Anuruk pumped a fist. "What? You don't like it?"

"That is... so vile..." Raven moaned, heaving whatever else was in his body up and out.

As Raven tried to recover himself from the surprise attack, the rest of the bandits in the room took notice. Unsure of what was happening, it left them open to other surprise attacks. The other combatant closest to Anuruk suddenly cried out as a dagger landed in his chest, driving him to the wall and down, Gryffin picking up the other one that he had lost from where it had fallen to the floor.

The bandit fighting Ganora was so consumed by trying to avoid her reckless swings he couldn't spare a moment to look. So when he side-stepped an attack of hers and finally managed to see his boss kneeling and vomiting, it caught him off guard. From behind, Ganora hit him with the blunt side of the ax to drive the man to the ground before slashing down across his back and killing him.

Around her, the world suddenly went red. Her heart was racing, the smell of blood in her nose. There was one other bandit left in the room, a look of fear in their eyes as they watched the tide of the battle quickly shift. They spied Ganora eyeing them hungrily and turned to run as Ganora threw the ax aside and dropped to all-fours. She gave chase, snapping at the man's heels with a howling cackle that chilled the blood of everyone that could hear it, jaw cracking as she tried to take a bite out of the man.

As he ran for the door, he shoved Amari out of the way and knocked him to the ground. Pushed aside, Neph had enough room to conjure another spell. Her eyes glowed like distant stars as she reached out, faint motes of light gathering in her palm. When enough energy had gathered it burst forth like blinding moonlight, impacting the man just as he managed to open the door. It caused a minor explosion across his back and flung him through the door the rest of the way outside. His clothes embered with faint blue flames that slowly died away, leaving the man still outside the room.

Through all of this, Raven never had time to notice that he was alone again. There was only the sound of him throwing up until he was left dry heaving on his feet. Finally, he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, eyes closed to what lay on the floor before him. He turned to resume the fight only to see Anuruk stepping in front of him, already mid-swing. Her other foot hit the floor at the end of her slash, followed by Raven's head a few moments later, then finally the rest of his body.

~~

Five minutes passed before Amari and Ganora walked back into the room, Ganora helping support him as he wiped his mouth. Neph grimaced as they watched him enter.

"Yikes. That looks rough," she said.

Amari, for his part, gave a weak little smile. "I'm fine now. Just had to get it out."

"Oh, did that work?" Anuruk asked. When Amari nodded, she patted him on the shoulder as she passed him on the way out the door. After it closed, there followed the sound of retching, which made the rest of them inside wince all over again after listening to Amari..

"I'd like to bring him back to life and kill him again," Neph remarked.

Amari waved a hand. "Being a little sick is nothing to kill someone over. It was just a little poison."

Ganora's ears were flat against her head. "Are you sure you're all right? Anuruk's like me... she's strong. You're half her size, there's not a lot of you to throw up."

"Really, I'm fine," Amari said, patting her shoulder. "I'm feeling much better, honest. Both of us pulled the bolt free pretty quickly. We're going to be okay." As he finished reassuring them, the door opened again to reveal Anuruk, who spat as she walked by Raven's corpse.

"Okay, I do feel better now. What an asshole."

"Found it." Gryffin was bent in the corner of the room, going through the smaller crates that had been brought into the mining company office. Apparently some of the more valuable items, or the things that had not strictly been food, had been moved inside for safekeeping. There were boxes of spices, parcels of precious stones and things that could have been packages or mail of valuables for people within Rosalia, and beneath all of the other crates, obscure looking spell components and magical augurs in a dark blue chest one could only assume to be azure. Gryffin pulled it out and held it up triumphantly.

"Good work," Anuruk said. "Can we get out of here now?"

"We have to do something about all the supplies," Amari said. "They need to be brought back to the city."

"I don't know if you remember, but all of the supplies combined was enough to fill a house," Anuruk remarked. "Some of us are pretty strong, no offense Am, but unless we work for a week straight, there's no way we'll be getting all of those back ourselves."

Neph nodded. "We'll ask for help when we get back to the city. We took care of all of the bandits, the supplies will be safe here in the mines until they can send people to get them."

"But that's the thing," Amari said, "we don't know if that was all of them. What if more of them come back from... patrol or something?" he asked.

Anuruk lifted one of the bodies of the fallen bandits with one hand. "We just so happen to have convenient bandit deterrent."

"That's not funny," Amari said with a frown, "those people deserve a proper burial."

"They poisoned us," Anuruk retorted. "They tried to kill us."

"They were doing their job," Amari replied. "It may not have been a good one, and they probably don't like wherever their souls might have ended up, but that doesn't mean that the bodies should be disrespected. The graves can be shallow, but even thieves deserve a place to rest." Amari turned to Neph. "Have any spells that might assist in digging some holes? I'll help if I can, just outside the mine entrance should be fine."

Neph thought for a moment. "I could probably make something work, but you're not helping. Otherwise I'll have to dig an extra hole and roll you into it when you keel over."

Amari gave a little laugh and Anuruk shook her head. "You dying is funny, but this isn't?" she asked, hands splayed to show the carnage around them.

"I've come to terms with my suffering," Amari stated, matter-of-fact. "They died in fear."

"And what about deterring any bandits that come back?"

"We can take some of their clothes and hang them up outside as a warning. That should be easier anyway, right?" Amari asked.

Anuruk thought that over. The idea of making an already grizzly scene that much more so by displaying the bodies was intriguing, but using some of their clothes instead would be less heavy lifting, and they had already been fighting.

"Fine," she said with a shrug. "But the bodies would have been cooler."

"Guys, there's something else," Gryffin said. While the rest of the group had been talking, Gryffin had been looking over the papers strewn about the desk after he had set the chest down. Among them were old and yellowed ledgers, inventory lists, and schedules. However, one of the pieces of parchment appeared newer than the others, which Gryffin now showed to the group as they crowded around the desk in a circle to see.

The note was short, written in a quick, looping calligraphy.

Halt trade to Rosalia City. If you succeed, the Demon King will reward you. - N

"N? Who's that?" Anuruk asked.

Neph frowned. "Or the Demon King?"

"Some other name for the king we're fighting?" Ganora asked.

Amari was playing with the white lock of his hair. "That seems the most likely. A king waging a war on his own people would have something to gain from cutting off supplies to the city. This must have been his way of weakening them."

There was a movement from the pile of supplies at the corner of the room. All of them stopped and turned.

For a few seconds, there was nothing.

"Something must have fell," Gryffin said, but then it came again, a rustling and shuffling from beneath everything. All of them exchanged looks before Anuruk moved to the pile and reached in. Her hand was obscured for a moment, as she felt around.

"Something's moving..." she muttered before starting and drawing her hand back. She had appeared triumphant in catching whatever was moving around the pile, but all she came up with was a small leather satchel, faded brown with one strap. She looked closer, and all of them watched as it seemed to move or adjust.

"Something's inside?" Neph asked. Anuruk opened the flap and peered inside.

"Did it get dark in here all of the sudden? I can't... see anything in here."

When she looked away, something seemed to emerge from the bag. At first, Neph thought it might be some kind of snake slithering its way free. But there was no head, no eyes to speak of. Slowly, a long tongue lulled its way from inside the bag, dripping with sticky saliva.

When Anuruk felt one of the globules touch her arm, she grunted and held the bag away from her by the end of the strap as the flap of the bag snapped down. Along the back of the bag, hems seemed to pull away from the fabric as four eyes emerged along the top of the bag, yellow and reflective in the light. When the flap reopened, where there had once only been fabric, there were now rows of sharp little teeth.

"It's alive!" Amari shouted.

The bag, or whatever it was, seemed to have been preoccupied by the acquisition of prey, namely Anuruk. At the sound of Amari's voice, it seemed to notice for the first time that there were several other people in the room. Realizing it was outnumbered, it emitted a small gasp and pulled the tongue back. It's eyes closed, hiding them back under the hem of the back and the teeth seemed to retract and disappear. Even though it once again appeared like any other satchel, there seemed to be a slight tremble, which they could hear in the small clinking of the buckles together.

Neph walked over to Anuruk as she held the bag at arm's length.

"Should we kill it?" she asked.

"It could have attacked you, but it didn't. Maybe we don't have to," she said, her eyes flicking to Amari, then back. "It's okay, you don't need to be scared. You can come out... whatever you are," she said. Carefully, she stroked along the top of the bag like it was a cat. She pulled her hand back quickly as the back of the bag rose up to the touch of her hand on its own, like a cat arching its back. She tried again, this time having to pull her finger from the bag when it seemed like it stuck there.

"It's... sticky? But only sometimes. Come out now and let's have a look at you," she said again, patting the top of the bag.

"You hurt?" burbled a small voice. Again, they all shared a look.

"Was... was that the bag?" Gryffin asked.

"You hurt me?" came the voice again. The hems reopened and the four little eyes reappeared, as if from nothing. The flap, or the mouth, barely moved as it spoke, but it did move slightly, a small bit of its purple tongue poking out the bottom.

"No," Neph said. "No we're not going to hurt you unless you hurt us."

"Hungry..." it hissed. It's eyes swiveled around, moving independently of each other to survey the room. "Could eat you, but too many. You have food?" it asked.

None of them could really understand what it was they were seeing, but Anuruk moved anyway. She reached behind her and into her own bag to retrieve a dry piece of bacon from her rations, holding it out for the bag carefully. The eyes trailed the food as one before the mouth flew open, the tongue shooting out. The bacon stuck to the tongue like a chameleon's before it withdrew the morsel into it's mouth and the darkness beyond. There was the sound of crunching before it was gone.

"Great, so we're feeding bags now..." Anuruk muttered.

"Where is master?" the bag asked, eyes moved again. It swung around on it's strap to see the rest of the room. It stopped when it spied the headless Raven on the ground. "Oh... master has become food," it said sagely. It seemed to merely observe the changing state of its previous owner, without any apparent grief or sadness.

The bag turned again to the rest of the group, meeting eyes with multiple people at once. "Are you new master?"

"Uh..." Neph paused. "Yes...?"

"You have more food?"

"We can keep you fed, sure."

"You are new master."

Gryffin frowned. "What kind of bandits are these? Supplies and weird bags... no jewels or gold or anything anywhere?"

"You want jewels?" the bag asked. Its tongue receded into its mouth and the impenetrable darkness within its body for a moment before it extended again. Wrapped in its tongue was a glittering ruby the size of Gryffin's eye. The tongue extended out almost ten feet until it was directly in front of Gryffin, where it then released the ruby into Gryffin's palm before receding again.

"What... the heck is this thing?" he asked, eyeing the ruby carefully.

"It is real?" Neph asked.

"Oh yea..." Gryffin said, incredulous. "A little slimy, but its real."

"Does anyone else know what this is?" Ganora asked. Everyone shook their heads.

Amari shrugged. "Maybe we can ask Attrix when we get back."

"What's your name?" Neph asked, stroking along the "spine" again.

"Stupid."

"Your name is stupid?"

"That's what master called me. Stupid Bag."

The group shared a wince, looking from one to the other, Neph especially, turning to give a disapproving look to Raven below.

"I think we can do better than that," she said.

Amari, who had done his best to keep himself from looking to closely at the other bodies in the room, did his best not to follow her gaze down to the decapitated half-orc. "Any ideas?"

"Holden," replied Anuruk, taking him back.

"Holden?"

"I mean, he holds things, even if I don't know how he does it. So... Holden," she explained.

The rest of the group shared another look, nodding all the way down the line.

"I think that sounds reasonable," Neph said. "What do you think?" she asked the bag.

"I hold things," replied the bag.

Anuruk nodded. "Holden it is."


	7. The North Road

The light was fading by the time they made it back to the city. The party had spent time in the Rose Gold Mines; Anuruk hanging scraps of clothing as makeshift flags outside the entrance as a signal to any returning Ravens that they were no longer welcome; Nephalanu, Amari, and Ganora carefully removing the bodies from the mines to bury them just out of sight of the entrance, in a place where the sunlight would reach them on the slope of the hills. Only when the warnings were finished and the bodies buried with prayers uttered did they take their leave.

"Let's head back to the tavern," said Anuruk, rolling her shoulder where the poison bolt had landed. "I could really use some sleep."

Nephalanu shook her head. "Not yet. We should go see Master Attrix."

"But it's getting late. And he's old. He's probably going to bed early."

"Then we'll wake him up. I don't think this is something we can wait on. You remember what Silverwind was like. We need to know what we're dealing with as soon as possible. Once we figure that out with him, then we can sleep."

Anuruk sighed. "You care about all this now?"

"I'm not sure what I think yet," she replied. "But this will determine once and for all just how much we're able to help or whether it's none of our business. Then we can do whatever we like, whether that means helping or leaving. How does that sound?" she asked, looking to the rest of the group.

"It would be nice to know if I should leave," Gryffin admitted, almost a whisper.

Amari looked tired, but nodded. "I'd like to know if there's anything I can do to help."

Ganora shrugged. "If everyone else is going... sure," she growled.

"Fine," Anuruk relented. "But then it's back to the tavern."

The plaza at the center of town was just as deserted as when they had come been through the first time. When they entered under the lengthening shadow of the obelisk, the same guard was leaning on the side facing the entry to the plaza, but stood at attention when the rest of the group approached.

"You've business with the Master?" he asked.

Anuruk looked ready to say something, but Amari jumped in before she could. "Yes. It's urgent business. Red Ro-"

"Right this way then. The master's expecting you."

"Oh..." Amari said. "Thank you." Without another word of protest the guard ushered them to the top of the wide steps that led to the side of the obelisk before opening the same arcane sigil again, creating the magical doorway that led to the Master's study beyond.

The interior was much the same as they had left it, though this time they were not entirely alone. A small group of young people were in the middle of leaving the study through the only other door — students of the Master's final class of the day. One of them, a small boy with a pointed hat and round glasses, lingered an extra moment as if to say something, but when he saw the group enter through the portal, he quickly took his leave.

The Master himself was seated behind his desk, stacking whatever books he had been using for his lesson at the corner. He smiled patiently as they approached.

"You are back. Sooner than I expected too. I am glad to know you are all right."

"Thank you," Amari replied. "Pardon me for asking, but is everything all right with your guard? He just seems a little..."

"He has been instructed about how to treat my guests more amiably, if that is what you're asking."

Anuruk huffed and crossed her arms. "He had it coming."

"Were you successful in retrieving my supplies?" The Master asked.

Gryffin stepped forward and placed the chest on his long desk, sweeping some of the dirt and dust from the top. "Hopefully nothing's damaged, we only checked inside once to make sure it was the right stuff."

Attrix carefully opened the lid and inspected the contents with nodding approval.

"Everything appears to be in order. You have my sincerest gratitude. How did the bandits fair?"

Amari frowned and looked askance, but Anuruk stepped up, rolling her shoulders.

"Taken care of," she said, smiling. "All of them as far as we know. They won't be bothering anyone now."

Attrix nodded. "I suppose thati s for the best, Rosalia was suffering. Then you have the city's gratitude as well. I will be sure to pass the word on that it was you who helped us."

Amari shook his head. "That's really not necessary. We just wanted to help."

"Speak for yourself." Anuruk muttered.

Neph tapped her lip. "Now that you have what you need, do you think you would be able to help us? We're still not even sure what it is we're dealing with."

The Master rose from where he was seated, motioning to a nearby door. "I wonder if anyone would be able to help me with a spell. You do not need to be fully magically inclined, but it may help to understand what is being shown. Any takers?"

The group looked to each other. Anuruk and Ganora both put their hands up in surrender. Gryffin, looking paler than usual, merely shook his head. That left Nephalanu and Amari, who nodded to one another and turned to Master Attrix. "We can help."

"Excellent. If you will join me here," he said. He waved a hand and opened the door for them to step through.

The room beyond was bare except for sconces for candles, dimly burning and casting an air of mystery about the circular room. On the wooden floor, a complicated arcane circle had been drawn. Symbols overlapped and spiraled around one another in a dizzying array.

Master Attrix stood within one of the circles within the circle at the head, motioning to two others at the sides, creating a triangle of casters – Amari on the left, Nephalanu on the right.

"We shall now attempt a scrying," Attrix said, closing his eyes. He began to move his hand in a complicated gesture, the circle below him beginning to glow with a ghostly radiance. When he opened his eyes, they were glowing bright with divination energies. "If the two of you would center your thoughts, we shall try to glimpse beyond what can be seen with our eyes."

Though they practiced two different types of magic, divination was an art both Amari and Nephalanu could apprehend in their disparate ways. They did as they were bid, clearing their minds. When they opened their eyes, they were glowing with magical radiance. Around them, the air was humming and crackling with energy, arcs of magic striking the edges of the circle and illuminating the rest of the symbols, forcing their audience to stand back.

They felt their consciousness drawn out from their bodies, elevated above them and out into the Weave — its seemingly infinite threads spread out like a tapestry of power and fate before them. And through those twisting threads of time and possibility their collective sight traveled for what felt like a great and infinitesimal distance simultaneously.

~~

Together they were drawn through the Weave down to a city — the familiar streets of the capital laid out before them. For a moment it appeared much different than what they remembered, with sunshine and blue skies above the tall alabaster spires. Yet this bright vision lasted only a moment as a shadow fell across the city, and they could all collectively feel a chill as something dark began to take root in Silverwind. The trees did not regain their leaves as the seasons changed and the crops did not replenish and the soil became hard and ill suited for planting. The skies became dark and cold and the wind was biting, driving the hungry people inside their homes as the shadow took root within the once magnificent castle at the city center.

They blinked, but when they opened their eyes, they were looking within the castle itself. A man with a full gray beard was sitting one the throne at the head of the room, limp, a crown resting atop his head, the rest of his face cast in shadow. Before him, another robed figure was hard at work, face shrouded beneath a hood except for a pair of glowing red eyes. In front of them, the floor of the throne room had been almost entirely covered with dark magical symbols and circles that spiraled out into a massive arcane construct.

The robed figure was muttering something in a language none of them could understand, but it gave them all goosebumps even through the vision. There was a... presence. Something old and dark and low peering up, rising up, through the deep layers of the world below them, or through distant lower planes that housed ravenous creatures and faceless evils.

From the opposite side of the circle, someone was trying to gain entry to the room. The pounding increased in strength and intensity until the door finally burst open in a spray of splinters and broken metal. Locked as they were in the throws of the vision, none of those observing could utter their surprise when they saw themselves. The five of them: Anuruk, Neph, Ganora, Amari, and Gryffin entered the throne room.

Together, facing whatever entity was hard at work, their eyes began to glow and a white light pushed back the shadows. A bright energy rose from within each of them, manifesting into their own large arcane circle, wreathed in warmth and light. For a tense moment, their appeared to be a standoff between the two sides as the light attempted to pierce the darkness and disrupt the dark ritual.

But though the symbol appeared powerful, it began to lose ground to the encroaching shadows until finally, it was dispelled in a blinding flash and an echoing crack like a thunderclap.

Their vision was thrust outside the castle. From there, they could see the shattered pieces of the symbol shoot into the sky before dispersing. Six different pieces flew in six different directions, moving fast as light and coming to land in far away places around Extera; a golden desert, a gloomy castle on a hill, a dank marshland, high in the mountains, amid a dense forest, in a small meadow village, and crashing through the waves of the sea.

The blinding lights gave way to that explosive, encroaching darkness. Something emerged from the summoning, overwhelming the figure and the wasting king upon the throne. The vision darkened, but not before the observers and their audience all heard a collective, low laugh, bemused and sinister. Their hairs all stood up on the backs of their necks before those in the ritual were ejected from the vision, the scrying circle dimming on the floor as the magic faded from it.

~~

Attrix stumbled backwards out of the circle, holding himself up on the nearby wall. Amari and Nephalanu were also drained, swaying and stumbling back. Anuruk moved behind Neph and Ganora behind Amari, supporting them before they fell.

"Did you see anything?" Anuruk asked. "Or just hear... whatever that was?"

Neph blinked. "You heard the laugh too?"

"We all did," she replied. "Right?" Anuruk glanced around and was met with nods from Gryffin and Ganora, who's fur was standing on end.

Amari shook his head, leaning against Ganora. "We saw something, though I'm not sure what. There was some sort of ritual in the castle at Silverwind. And we were there, interrupting it. We cast some sort of spell together, but it wasn't enough. It was broken, the pieces scattered. Something bad must have happened. It probably wasn't too long after that when we ended up in the middle of the city."

"We were there?" Gryffin asked.

Amari nodded. "Yes... fighting the king, it seemed. Someone else was there, though we couldn't see who. And something else... something dark that made its way through from the summoning. Do you know know what it was?" he asked, pushing off of Ganora to stand. There had been a momentary vertigo, but their senses were coming back to all of them.

Attrix rose and straightened his green robes. "I cannot say, regretfully. At least, I am not sure what was being attempted through such a summoning. Something darker and more powerful than anything I have ever seen attempted, and I am very old." Attrix frowned, fingers resting on his chin. "Our poor king Umir appeared to be attempting something beyond forbidden."

"What about the symbols?" Neph asked. "What were they?"

"That I am a little more familiar with," he said. "Though that is also the first time I have seen something of that nature attempted. What we saw was a very powerful Seal of Binding."

"I recognized some of the symbols," Amari remarked. He turned a hand over and traced them on his palm with his finger. "Power. Virtue. Horror... there were others, but I didn't see them as clearly."

Attrix nodded. "They were in Celestial, language of the Gods. The Seal is old Celestial magic, a rite meant to contain and banish powerful evils from our world. I don't think such a spell has been necessary in a god's lifespan, but I now suspect that was what the Resistance's first plan probably entailed."

"You didn't know about it? You're connected to them, though," Gryffin said, eyebrows coming together.

"I am, in my ways. But when the leading members discussed creating a plan to storm the throne, I bid them keep me out of it, lest that information be taken from here, or overheard by one of the students. Teaching children magic is precocious business at best, and I worried that the secret of their plan would not be safe with me."

"Well... what do we do?" Anuruk asked, arms crossed. "We don't remember, but apparently we were helping them like they said we were. And we tried this really powerful spell, but it didn't work. Where does that leave us? If it didn't work... what? We just lose?"

"Perhaps not," Attrix replied, moving slowly passed them back into his study. The rest of them followed into his chambers, shutting the door behind them. "The implication is that the Seal failed because it was too weak, which I do not believe. That rite is ancient and powerful for a reason. Nay... I believe the spell failed because it was not yet complete by the time it was disrupted. You were interrupted before you could truly cast the spell. If you were to try again, there is a chance you could still be successful."

"But how?" Ganora asked. "It's broken, right?"

Attrix's eyebrows pulled together. "That is indeed the question. The parts of the Seal you utilized were found, not created, as would be the case for some other spell. Power such as that would gravitate toward – and nest within – powerful magical objects that could contain it. It would have been a lot of work to discover those parts of the Seal before, and unfortunately, I believe the same may prove true now." Attrix leaned forward, sitting straighter from behind his desk. "If you do still intend to help, then it will require traveling to the various locations we witnessed in our vision, finding, and collecting those lost pieces of the Seal to recombine them. All six of them."

"Where did they go?" Anuruk asked.

Neph pinched the bridge of her nose. "All over the continent. But I do remember what I saw, though it didn't show exactly where they landed in each place. We know the area to look, but it will take time."

"Do we even have that kind of time?" Gryffin asked.

Neph shrugged. "Maybe not, but that doesn't matter. That's the only thing we have to go off of. If there was a better way to do this, then we would have done it and we would have our memories."

Amari nodded. "If we agree, we can keep our ears open to other ways that might be better at defeating something that powerful."

"So..." Anuruk muttered. "Are we helping?"

Amari looked to Ganora. She had been listening, though it was a clear that she did not entirely understand what was being talked about. But she did not appear displeased by the situation.

So long as she was moving away, it mattered little what they did.

Amari turned back decisively. "Ganora and I will help the Resistance find them."

"Seriously? That sounds like a lot of work. You're okay with this?" Anuruk asked Ganora.

The gnoll shrugged. "Where he goes, I go."

"Simple as that, huh?"

"Aren't you doing the same with Nephalanu?" she asked.

Anuruk blinked, whatever she had been about to say fading on her tongue. "Uh... well, what are we doing?" she asked the moon elf.

Neph thought for a long moment, chin resting on her finger. "Honestly... I think we should help."

"Are you sure?"

"If the elders of my village are expecting something of me, then I'm fairly certain this counts as something. And if you have no where to be immediately, then it would be a way for us to travel while helping people," Neph replied. She looked to Amari, Ganora, and Gryffin, the corner of her lip turning down. "I don't know... I don't know how I feel about leaving you. It feels like we just met. But then... it doesn't. I can't describe it. What are you going to do Gryffin?"

The dragonborn scratched his chin, a faint bit of black scruff beginning to come in through his orange-red skin. His eyes trailed over the walls as thought, trying to ignore the eyes he felt on him; Amari's feeling especially pressing.

"Well..." he mused. "So long as I can travel around. If we have so many places to go, I would have gone there eventually. I can come along, as long as everyone else is too."

"And you're looking for someone?" Anuruk asked. "Mind telling us who? We could help, you know."

"You'd know him if you saw him. It's fine for now," said Gryffin and offered no more.

Amari turned to Attrix, a small smile on his face. "Then consider us part of the Resistance."

~~

After another couple of hours looking over a map, it was decided that the group would head north first, through the small desert to the city of Golden Crest. When their yawns finally became too contagious, they bid Attrix a good night and made their way back to the Skilled Rose. With barely a "good night" between them, they retired to their respective rooms and fell fast asleep.

In the morning they awoke to fanfare.

"Guards are beginning to return with the stolen goods!" Miriam exclaimed. She hugged all of them warmly in turn, beaming like a ray of morning light. "You've saved the city! Breakfast is on me, it's the least I can do." Thus, their morning meal was packed high with breads, cheeses, teas, berries, fruits, and many other dishes that left the group feeling sluggish and full. Breakfast defeated, they bid Miriam a cheerful goodbye before setting out for the stables near the northern tip of town. Astride fresh horses, they set off together northward, leaving the gleaming city of Rosalia behind them.

~~

Where the South Road had taken them down from picturesque mountains through golden fields, the North Road was less tilled, marred by rocks, gravel, and shrubbery. In place of grain and vegetables, wild grasses and flowers bloomed wherever they could find space through the rocky terrain. As they followed the road that cut through the hills and the paved stones turned to dirt, the hillsides flattened as they exited the shadow of the nearby mountains. By midday, the sun was beating on them and the gravel had ground into fine sand dunes of the northern equatorial desert.

Early afternoon saw the last of their protection from the summer sun disappear entirely, and soon they were all of them annoyed and sticky with sweat. Ganora panted, tongue lolling out as she walked beside the horses as she was too large for anything other than the largest draft horse. Anuruk had opened the collar of her shirt as much as she could, Amari had removed much of his vestments, draping it over the top of his head like a shroud to protect his pale skin. Even weather-wise Nephalanu appeared perturbed, the blossoms on her flower crown wilting under the oppressive heat. While she rode, she used her magic to craft a large tropical leaf the size of a dinner plate, sticking the stem into her crown in a futile attempt to shield her from the sun. Only Gryffin appeared even mildly comfortable, riding up ahead, though he had removed his red vest.

"I don't see a reason to keep it hidden," Anuruk was saying to Gryffin, guiding her horse carefully over another dune. "You probably just forgot that you told us last year."

"If I did then it was a mistake," he said, eyes watching the horizon. "And it's not important right now."

"We just want to help. Another pair of eyes looking for... whoever you're looking for could only help"

"I appreciate the thought, but I can take care of it," he said, eyes downcast. "To be honest, you haven't been overly open either. About why you and Neph are traveling."

"Oh, that's an easy one," Anuruk replied, unperturbed by Gryffin's defensiveness. "Neph wanted to see the world and I followed her to keep her safe."

"Are you sure she needs it?" Ganora asked. There was no privacy where they were, everyone could hear what they were saying. "Seems like she's been protecting you so far."

"Hells yea, isn't she great? I just do what I can," the half-orc said, grinning to Neph.

The moon elf rolled her eyes. "I'm honored, truly."

"You're looking for something too?" Gryffin asked.

Neph pursed her lips in thought. "Maybe. Not necessarily. Maybe I should be, but it's not something that can be found. I had lived so long with my tribe and had barely seen anything outside of it. I wanted to see the world, so I left for a while. Someday I'll have to go back, I guess, but I'll feel more comfortable if there's a safe place to go back to." A breeze blew some of the sand off the top of the one of the dunes, and she sneezed as she tried to adjust her leaf shade.

"Though I don't think I could miss the forest more right now," she continued, turning to look behind her. "What about you, Amari?"

The boy dabbed his forehead with a wet cloth. "I guess you could say the same thing for me. I've only really known the church where I grew up."

"You're grown up?" Anuruk asked.

Amari gave a wry smile. "I just turned twenty, thank you very much. But in all that time, I've never really explored beyond the Temple of Ilmater and Whitegate. I felt like I'd done all I could do there. Ilmater spent his time traveling the world and helping people. I thought it might deepen my faith if I did the same."

"You keep saying that name, Ilmater," Neph said. "I assume that's your... deity?"

"Oh yes!" Amari replied, eyes bright. "I'm a member of the Temple of the Broken God."

"Broken?" Anuruk asked, brow coming together. "Why would you follow a broken god?"

"He's been broken so that his follower may be made whole," Amari replied without missing a beat. "Ilmater as suffered mightily at the hands of tormentors and tyrants alike, but he does so in the hopes that others may avoid suffering, especially those who cannot otherwise fend for themselves. He is the god of the accused, the incarcerated, the hungry, the sick. He is infinite patience and love of life. We who follow him are instructed to conduct ourselves like him. We are to shield those from misfortune. We tend to those who cannot tend to themselves. We heal and protect, and if there is no other way, we are commanded to bare the suffering of others when we can, to help ease their pain."

By the end of this speech, Amari was positively beaming, eyes looking ahead as though he had managed to forget the sun bearing down on them. The rest of them had never heard him speak so much.

"You... seem devoted," Anuruk managed.

Amari nodded. "More than life itself."

"That's a little intense," Gryffin replied.

"Maybe, but my love for Ilmater is intense, as is his love for me," the boy replied, taking a sip from his water skin. His back was straight and his head held high as though this ruminating had reinvigorated him.

"I assume the book you cast out of is-"

"My prayer book, yes," Amari said, answering Neph.

"Amari... that sounds really fascinating," she continued, "but having to endure all that seems difficult. You're sure that's what your church asks?"

If Amari thought the question rude, he didn't show it. "I've read through our scripture dozens of times and spent my life cloistered in the church. That faith is what grants me my powers. None of the magical healing or protections I perform are my doing. I'm merely a channel for Ilmater's will."

The rest of the group shared a pointed look. It was hard to deny that Amari had protected all of them. But if that was the cost...

Where Amari had been positively shining moments before, his horse suddenly slowed, a shadow drawing across his face as he looked around.

"Did anyone else hear that?"

They slowed their pace while they listened.

Anuruk scratched her neck. "Nothing but wind and the sand in my ears. It really does get everywhere..."

The rest of the group agreed, but Amari wasn't satisfied.

"Something's coming..."

Ganora sniffed. "I don't smell any-"

Whatever she had been about to say was cut off by the black pincers, nearly as large as her torso, shot from beneath one of the dunes, snapping around an arm and dragging half of her into the sand. Yet there was no time for alarm as a large, segmented tail ending in a vicious stinger shot from another dune at the head of the group. Gryffin had to lay all the way flat atop his horse to let the stinger move over him. The tail retracted back and struck again. Gryffin rolled over the side of his horse and kicked, knocking his horse off balance and into the side of one of the dunes while he fell into the dust, the stinger just barely missing both of them.

From beneath the sand, two black scorpions, large as their horses, emerged in a series of hisses and clicks, pincers raised in front of them while their tails swayed behind them, one still holding Ganora fast.

With no time to stop it, the scorpion raised it's tail again and struck, driving the stinger into Ganora's body.


End file.
